Cuttings And Bulb Division To Swell Your Plant Stocks
Moving My Garden Using Cuttings And Bulb Division
Well, it seems as though we just moved into this pretty little house and now we have to move. The house has been sold and the new landlords want to move in. Such is the pain of renting! So today I’m writing about cuttings and bulb division because that’s what I’m going to be doing this afternoon.
We’ve been looking around for the last few months, all over the area, and finally found a house just down the road! It’s great because we can form a line and pass our goods and chattels from one person to the next without the expense of a moving van. Except for the very heavy piano, of course. I guess we could roll that down the hill as we are moving to ‘Lower Town’ but it may never sound the same again.
Planting in Pots
Because of the perennial gopher problem, I have planted a lot of my garden in pots, sunk into the flower beds. I can easily lift these and take them with me. Knowing about the impending move, I have also planted all my new fall bulbs into lots and lots of pots, some to be transferred into the ground once we’ve moved. Unfortunately, this new garden is full of gopher holes so we’ll be back to digging and lining beds before we can start transplanting. I also noticed some deer droppings in piles on the grass so I think the wildlife factor is going to be a challenge.
I’ve used that old gardening trick of planting bulbs in layers to fit all my pink daffodils into one pot. I’ve also done that with my parrot tulip bulbs but they took up four pots and, having exhausted my pot supply, I had to give the rest of them to my friend.
In case you’re unfamiliar with how to plant bulbs in layers, it’s easy. Just fill your pot with potting soil to about half way and pop in your first lot of bulbs. Cover those and then lay your second layer of bulbs, remembering how your first layer was planted so that your next bulbs go in between. This technique is sometimes called the lasagna method.
I’d totally forgotten about planting hyacinths and paper white narcissus into glass bowls on a bed of pebbles until a visiting friend of mine gave me a beautiful glass vase with a Paperwhite narcissus in it as a thank you gift. I wish I’d thought of that earlier – I would have kept the remaining tulips and tried that trick with them!
Most of the flowers are planted in the ground and I’m loath to destroy my pretty garden. So I have been busy these past couple of months, collecting seed, dividing bulbs, growing bulblets from scales, splitting perennials and taking dozens of cuttings and generally swelling my stocks with cuttings and bulb division.
Seed collecting
Most seeds come from annuals which produce them by the tens or hundreds, depending on how generous they are. I’ve gathered up seeds from all my annuals, including all my different poppies, and have a big jar of them. I notice that some baby poppies are coming up in the beds already so am trusting spring will not be too late to plant. Be sure you collect seeds when they’re dry otherwise they’ll probably rot. Having said that, a friend of mine grabbed a head of naked lady seeds long before they were ready and a couple of months later I found them sprouting in the seed drawer!
Dividing and Scaling Bulbs
Although I’m dividing after only a year, bulbs love to be divided after a few years or they become over crowded. Just lift them up when their leaves have died back and take off the babies. Keep them in a paper bag until it’s time to plant them again. Many bulbs can be left in the ground so you can just replant the divisions straight away. Lily bulbs have to be replanted immediately. Some bulbs multiply faster than others, I’ve discovered. I’ve got half a dozen ranuncula offsets but dozens of bulblets from my asiatic lilies.
You can take up to half a dozen scales off the outside growth of healthy lily bulbs and pot them up and each scale will produce two or three bulblets. That’s a great way to multiply stingey bulbs that don’t multiply on their own very quickly. I put three scales into some dry potting soil in a zip lock bag. I kept it in a dark cupboard for a couple of months and today I took them out and there were eight babies, roots and all. Very satisfying. When planting out lily bulbs, another trick is to just plant a couple of the scales separately in the same pot so they start making new plants straight away.
Splitting Perennials
Most of the perennials in the garden are too young to split yet but day lilies always seem ready to be split. I also lifted two columbines I planted as bare rooted plants last spring. I easily split them by pulling the root stock apart. Then I replanted one half and potted up the other half. I’m going to do the same with a lovely tri-colored flax that a friend gave me last year and which is growing well in the drive way bed. If you want to split a perennial, just dig up the root ball and either pull the plants apart or use a knife or garden spade to divide them with. They recover very quickly and spring or fall is the time to do it
Cuttings
There is a wonderful maroon arctosis spreading like a cushion beside the bath bed which is still putting out the odd flower. There is a bank full of blackberry bushes just outside my future bedroom window. I would rather it was full of arctosis than thorns so I have taken a dozen or more cuttings of it. I have also taken cuttings of all my pelargoniums and all of my neighbor’s, as well as all three varieties of lavender. And of course, I could never leave my lotus ground cover behind without taking ample cuttings of that and the other ground covers that have flourished this summer and fall.
So far they are going great guns in my little plastic green house. Just cut the tips off, just below a joint, clear away most of the leaves on the stems, dip the stems in rooting powder if you have any (not essential though, and I believe talcum powder does a good job), make holes in the soil with a pencil and pop the cuttings in, watering them in well. Then, lightly mist the cuttings every day without soaking the soil. Water them once a week or so. That seems to be working well for me.
So, sad as I am to leave behind the garden I’ve coaxed into being and tended for the last eighteen months, at least I get to pass a good part of it down the line in a next few weeks time without leaving nothing behind.
Feel free to share if you enjoyed my ramblings, and happy gardening!
Oh well organised Kathy ! Note bulbs still hold a big place in your heart ! Still remember helping you plant out daffodils ……and the red mud encrusted jeans I was left with as reward ! But I did learn which way up to plant bulbs !
Thanks Les,
Just planted out my first flowers in my new garden – my German irises.