Landscaping isn’t cheap purchasing plants for your yard to make your own outdoor oasis can add up quickly. But with a few learned garden tricks from experts, there are some ways to increase the number of plants in your landscape for little to no cost. There are ways you can multiply the very plants in your yard or gather offshoots or seeds from plants your friends have for free.
A method that is best for multiplying your plants really depends on the particular plant that you hope to multiply. The easiest plants to try these methods with include annuals, biennials, perennials, and vegetables. There are also ways to start a seedling from a shrub or tree as well as multiplying the most beautiful of rosebushes.
Here are some methods in which you can multiply your plants
Routing plantlets
Some plants pretty much do all the work for you because they create clones of themselves right next to their original plant. These seemingly baby reproductions of the mother plant are called plantlets or offsets. These can be easily routed to give more plants. Just make sure to water the plant well before removing the plantlet to lessen the stress.
The best plants to do this with include hens and chicks, spider plants, and creeping saxifrage/strawberry begonia.
The best method for rooting plantlets is to remove them from the larger plant by cutting off the stem or simply gently pulling the plant away from the larger mother plant. Next, you want to plant this smaller plant clone with a potting mix specifically designed for the plant. After planting it in the new home water it well and make sure that it gets bright and indirect sunlight. Once roots have substantially formed you can transplant them to another area if so desired.
Obtaining seeds
This is a pretty easy way to create new plants in your yard. There is no special equipment needed beyond having an area to keep the seeds such as an envelope or packet allowing them to be stored in a dry and cool place. One of the easiest ways of obtaining seeds from a plant is through produce-bearing plants such as peppers, tomatoes, peas, etc.
Summer flowers that are easy to obtain seeds from include calendula, impatiens, petunias, sunflowers, zinnia, columbine, and marigolds.
To make sure you have success with planting your seeds you want to make sure any produce seeds are from produce that has been fully ripe or almost overly ripe. You want to clean off the seeds you obtain from your plant and make sure they are dried out. The easiest way to dry seeds is to place them on coffee filters or paper towels. Once the seeds are dry you can then store them to be planted at the right time.
Dividing a plant
This is the process of pulling an existing plant apart into halves or quarters or more. This process gives you exact replicas of your original plant. In actuality, there are a lot of plants that thrive more successfully when they have been divided every few years. This is a great method for plants that outgrow their boundaries and maybe flower less often or show signs of aging and stress.
Some of the best plants to divide include black-eyed Susan, butterfly milkweed, daylilies, hostas, ornamental grasses, bearded iris, coneflower, and Veronica. You want to try and divide your plants earlier rather than later, especially while the plant is thriving. There are some plants that should not be divided, these include hellebore, baptisia, lupine, and lavender.
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