Propagation Class - The Next Step

Some of the plants from the propagation class had developed very long roots and were ready to move on to the next grade level.

I was concerned the roots would dry out so yesterday I moved 28 of them to 4" pots and the rest will continue growing in the original cell tray for a few more weeks.

All of them will be brought indoors at night until it is consistently warmer.

It's a pain to carry stuff in and out so we have a plan for a screen house to winter over plants in the future.  It should be finished this summer, right after we finish updating the bathrooms and kitchen!

You can read about my trip to pick up the rooted cuttings here.

Propagation Class - Hill Country Gardens

How often does a nursery let you run with scissors in their demonstration garden?  Take cuttings from any plant you like and they will help you root them.  Not too often, that's why the propagation class at Hill Country Gardens in New Braunfels is so popular.   A deal too good to pass up, yesterday I had the opportunity to attend one of the classes.

The presentation table is ready for the class.  Great setup and refreshments added to the fun on a pretty day.

The table base is a greenhouse truss and the beautifully curved top is pecan, cedar, oak, pine, and cypress woods.  It's covered with plastic today for the presentation, I'll get a better photo next time.

Andrea, the owner, started things off with a demonstration on propagation methods and how to take cuttings.

Soft, green tip cuttings work best.  You can also root woody stems from plants like Rosemary and Lavender by removing the needles along the stem to expose the cuticle.

Then we were given a small bucket of water and invited to roam the gardens for cuttings to fill the 72 cells in our trays.   You can read  about the gardens in my previous post.  I also brought cuttings from home.  Hill Country Gardens provided the trays, soil mix, rooting hormone, tags, snips and, the most important element, their greenhouse with misting system.

After collecting our cuttings, we poked holes in the trays with skewers, dipped cuttings in the rooting hormone provided, and set them in.

No problem filling these trays with cuttings from the well established garden of Texas natives and adapted plants. 

After we filled our trays, we took them into the greenhouse where they will be misted every ten minutes.  This class will be given again on Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th at 1:00 pm each day, this table will be really full by Sunday afternoon.  There are also seminars from local gardening experts scheduled each day.

Around mid February we will get an email letting us know our cuttings are ready to pick up.  It's going to be so much fun to see how my cuttings turned out.

A greenhouse clearance sale was in progress and I picked plants on my list as well.  Another fun day and great special event at Hill Country Gardens.