making many from one

Buying plants every year is really expensive.  I spend way too much money every year to fill up my containers with beautiful plants.  And then I hate to throw them out and let them die at the end of the season.  But over the past few years, I got smart.  I potted up geraniums, a purple sweet potato, iceplant, and a giant citronella in the fall, and set them on my bright windowsills.

This citronella has happily spent the winter in my bright basement.
If you look closely at the base of the plant, you will see Whitie the cat,
who has found a new favourite nap site.

There he is!

In March, I cut 10-cm off the tips of many of the branches, making sure there are at least 3 nodes (where leaves join the main stem).  I snap off some of the lower leaves and set the branches aside for a few days.  This is an important step to let the ends callus and prevent them from rotting.

I pack small pots with moistened, good-quality potting soil, use a pencil to make a hole in the soil,  pop in a stem or two, and firm the soil.  The small pots go into a waterproof tray, and then they are popped into a clear plastic bag, with a few props to keep the plastic from touching the leaves.  I close up the bag, and voila!  It's a make-shift greenhouse that forms its own atmosphere.  The pots don't need to be watered because the mosture condenses and falls back onto the plants.

Citronella cuttings covered by plastic held up with a variety of bottles. 
Condensation has formed on the inside, which will keep the plants watered.

Ice plant cuttings in the make-shift greenhouse

When the weather finally warms up in June, I will harden these off by putting them outside in a shady spot for an increasing amount of time until they are ready to withstand the harsher light and wind, and then plant them in containers.  What a beautiful way to save money!  And this year with the COVID-19 shut-down, I don't know if we will be able to go to nurseries to buy plants.

As you can see, my efforts don't always pay off.  The greenhouse method worked ok for the ice plants, but definitely didn't work for the citronella.  What a mouldy mess.  I'm thinking I should have rooted these in water.