My first real post.

So I thought that I would begin with a series a questions for today. For each post that I make. Whether or not the questions get answered is up to Fate and how much research I get accomplished. But the questions will always pop up every day, and always new ones will take their place.

Today's garden questions are:

Are butterfly bushes perennial?
Can you grow them from seed? If so, how?
What makes snowball bushes (hydrangeas) pink, blue, purple, white, or on some rare occasions, red?

Whether or not these answers receive answers will be known in the next post, which will have yet more questions, because that's what gardeners do-they constantly push the limits of what they're capable of, both in knowledge and in physical accomplishments.

That aside, you should know that I am a propagation freak. No, really, I am. I'm hopelessly addicted. I get a thrill knowing that from a single plant I might be able to derive between one to ten or more other plants from it. My naturally frugal mindset also finds this vastly appealing, as well as my strange need to fill any available space with flowers and trees and shrubs of any sort.

As such, I've been recently experimenting with rose cuttings.

I took a single eight inch long red rose cutting from my grandmother's bush, and when I got home, cut it in half.

Then I took a couple of empty (clean!) sour cream containers, filled them with dirt, and stuck the rose clippings into each 'pot'.

I watered each heavily, but not so much that there was standing water. I then took a plastic baggy, and put it over the pot, and I taped it into place. I also used a sharpie to mark either the bag or the pot with the variety or color of the rose.

This little environment that I've made keeps the cutting/s from drying out. I let them be like that, in a partially sunny spot inside, for two weeks. Then onto my porch for a couple of days.





Then today I decided that since it's supposed to be overcast for a while, it would be as good a day as any to plant them. So I did, and watered them well.

Cross your fingers-logically this should work out just peachy keen.

I also started two new rose cuttings-one from my sunbright bush and another from the gold medal bush, in the same fashion.





So far, there is no wilting-and they look very perky. We'll see what happens.





Below is a picture of a successful cutting, a pink climbing rose of which I've forgotten the name of.

I transplanted during a four day wet spell, which I think is the most forgiving time for planting cuttings outside.






So what about you? Have you tried to grow new plants from cuttings?

There's little to nothing to lose-as long as you only take a tiny bit from a strong medium to large sized plant specimen. The key is that you don't want to destroy or heavily diminish the original plant (I mean, unless you're okay with that, which for the most part, I try to keep the dignity of the mother plant).

So yeah, I encourage those who are reading this post to pipe up about your cutting experiences-what works for you? What are your methods? Do have any questions (I cannot guarantee that I will be able to answer all of them, but I feel confident that I can answer a majority) about cuttings? Speak up, don't be shy.