This year I have tuned back into propagating plants from cuttings and so far it’s going well. I’ve also been more successful with autumn seed sowings for flower plants. Join me for a short tour of the greenhouse.
Seedlings first. Three major triumphs with flower seedlings 1. I’ve finally figured out when to pinch out and now have nice, bushy little seedlings of antirrhinum, erigeron and dianthus. 2. I’m ridiculously pleased with myself for having grown french lavender and rosemary from seed, who also responded well to a bit of pinching-out.
The third triumph is getting succulents to germinate and grow into seedlings: Aeoniums, echeveria and aloe. The echeveria is featured here and has taken three months to get to this stage. I promise the soil isn’t as wet as it appears in this photo.
and the aeoniums and aloes, pricked out and growing along nicely.
and now the cuttings. I confess I’ve gone with the easy to root range first; penstemon salvia Amistad and verbena b. These photos show the second round of penstemon and salvia – London Plot will be well-stocked next year!
and a first wave penstemon, now potted on. It had some lovely shoots that needed shortening and those cuttings are now in gritty compost waiting to root. Quite why I think I need 24 penstemons is another matter, but it’s quite addictive.
What have been your propagating successes this year?
Allotment Life 
Well done, it’s all looking good. I sow and plant nearly everything direct as I don’t have a greenhouse or polytunnel, and only very limited windowsill space at home. xx
Impressive! I’ve managed to root some delphinium cuttings and last winter/spring sprouted crocosmia and Pacific coast irises. Those young plants are now facing their first winter. Whoever survives will get planted out in permanent spots next spring.
I’m Darwinian with plant survival too. It’s very satisfying to look at plants in the border and know you culivated them from seed or cutting.