This is under my potting bench. I ran out of other spots to put trimmings... but that doesn't just magically cure propagation addiction disease.


The Coleus is always everywhere by this time of year although there's no chance it will survive winter, so all of the best stems are cut to save inside, and the vines have little chance of root survival over winter. But I can't stop making more plants since the "houseplants" never stop growing, so this is essentially composting-in-place.


More tropical vine cuttings propagated this year, where Hydrangeas will be in the future (more composting-in-place.)



I'm also free-scaping our yard with propagated hardy entities like Gardenia, Hydrangea, Brugmansia, Tradescantia pallida, Hypoestes, Cordyline, Lantana, Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, but that is not yet a problem... give me a few more years on that.

You are not alone. 😊
If a leaf breaks off a succulent, stem off a coleus, have to cut back a long shoot from a brug, even if a spider plant drops a baby... If there is a chance I can propionate it, I try. More often than not, I succeed. My house is full, greenhouse is full, yard... yeah pretty full. Lol

True story: A few weeks ago I was at a garden center where they were cleaning up for winter. There was a big pile of "trash" that had swept under a bench. It was FULL of succulent leaves, broken stems of various sedum, some pieces of random trailing houseplants, and, well, a fair amount of garbage. I asked for a plastic bag, took their dustpan and shoveled it all in. After an hour or so of sorting through it, I've got several things rooting in water, some rooting in soil, and this little group of leaves. 😆

Good for you, Melissa! You'll have a lot of free plants from that haul.

I can't not propagate. If one of my anthuriums set seed, I propagate every seed. I do this because anthuriums are promiscuous plants LOL. They actually cross-pollinate in a closed environment like a greenhouse quite easily. I am hoping to someday grow out my own new natural hybrid. Maybe a variegated one with stable variegation. Big dreams! I also am addicted to propagating my outdoor hedychium gingers by seed. Almost every bloomed stalk here sets seed because the flowers are heavily visited by bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, tree frogs, and native species of flies and wasps. I cut off the seed heads this time of year and just plant the whole head in areas I don;t already have Hedychiums and they quickly sprout small plants that will grow unless it freezes. Then in Spring they will come up and continue to grow on. Slower than rhizome division, but then again, maybe I might get a natural hybrid some day! I also propagate my many different aroids (Philodendrons, Monsteras, Anthuriums, etc) by stem cuttings. And some of my orchids are easily propagated. It is an addiction! I recently propagated this long (about 4') stem of a vining anthurium. This is from a large plant which is a huge growing plant...A. clavigerum. It was going up a totem I had not gotten around to re-padding and a section had separated from the totem and defoliated. I cut it at the point of defoliation and topped it, replanted the top onto a good new padded totem, left the stem and re-did its totem, and planted the base of the leafless stem. It is now putting out new leaves at the leaf nodes.

This summer, one of my big bird nest Anthurium schlectendalii's (4 ft across, about 4 feet tall with leaves 3-5 feet long) had a seed scape. I nurtured it and caught the seeds when they were ripe and planted them in sphagnum moss...now they baby plants are sprouting!
Mama plant

seed scape



Baby plants!!!!!!!!!

Good stories, keep 'em comin'!! :+)

What I was doing last weekend. I didn't take a pic of every stem I saved, but here's a sample. It takes a surprising amount of time to wash out jars, decide which stems to harvest, trim stems, excess leaves, then stick in a jar.

Next years' landscaping (and bonus, the Kalanchoe blossfeldiana stems should bloom while inside too)...

Callisia, too unruly to live in a pot full-time. I jar the stems for winter, PIG for summer:


I put Aglaonemas in the ground temporarily for summer the past few years, I thought, but missed some roots last time & a more great stems came up this summer. This also makes me want to experiment with Dieffenbachia. I put 2 stems in the ground a couple months ago to get established & I will leave them in place to see if the roots survive & sprout new foliage again next summer.


Just some of a LOT of Coleus. There is no hope of a Coleus surviving winter here without an attempt at zone-cheating and happening to get one of those rare winters where there's just a few very light frosts.


Kalanchoe pinnata.


Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, which is root-hardy here. But watching the stems that will bloom over winter turn to mush instead makes me too sad. In jars, they fit on windowsill where it's too slim for pots anyway.


You can't even tell in my hard that I harvested all of these stems, except for the Coleus. When I cut them, it was noticeable.

I already have this kind of Dracaena in 5 pots but another stem got too tall over summer. It leaned over & developed this really cool turn. I stuck it in a pot as sideways as possible to force it to make another turn, and, of course, to see if it would make more branches that way... that I really don't have room for...!

I am kind of addicted to growing anthuriums from seed. It can be a slow process, but sometimes, certain species are a lot more vigorous than others. One that grows pretty fast is Anthurium pseudospectabile. I got seeds on a plant and have grown them out. This species is a giant anthurium....it is totally epiphytic (no soil needed) and the rooted section can be grown in a relatively small container. I use sphagnum moss and orchid bark. Th leaves can eventually reach 8 feet in length so you have to have it hanging pretty high once it gets large. These are some of my seedlings, leaves already getting pretty big!

I'm so happy about this pot, where I put a few of the nicest stems of these 2 kinds of Coleus with small leaves. Just stuck 'em in right after cutting while the soil was moist.


I don't have room to save any more of these Kalanchoes. They sure were pretty this summer. I can do it again next summer from what I do have room to save.

You have a knack for assembling things that compliment each other well

Thanks! I defer all credit to plants just being gorgeous.

Every year at this time I propagate my variegated Alocasias. I do this every year because sometimes, even if they are kept warm, they will go dormant in the decreased hours of daylight in winter. Every plant that is separated will produce a new tuber, however, and if they go dormant will come back up in spring. If they don't go dormant they will produce offsets. I can always ensure I have new plants by doing this without having to lay out big coin to replace them.

I am right there with y'all! I have a problem, I can't stop!

I have a "propagation station" for my succulents. I have at least 40-50 leaves going right now, then I have stems of two big succulents going. I have 3 varieties of pothos rooting, two trailing philodendrons rooting, a couple spider plant babies, African violets, and 4 varieties of tradescantia rooting.

That doesn't even include the ones I just planted! I give a lot of mine away to co workers and friends. I like to share the wealth! I keep quite a bit for me but at least half to 75% gets given away. My kids love to watch things root and I'm all about letting them learn about things like plants!

I really enjoy planting every house plant I have in the ground even though I live in zone 6a. I put tradescantia and callisia everywhere....

I'm using terrariums to propogate for next spring.

Nice! Now that would warm my gardeners soul in the winter time.

So I have blooms on several species Anthuria right now. I don;t really know how to do this, so I just took my fingers and rubbed them on the spadix of one plant's bloom, then on the spadix of the other, then again on the original plant's spadix to try and transfer any pollen to both of them. I am trying to cross Anthurium vittarifolium with Anthurium clarinervium. Have to wait and see if I get any seeds form on either

Has anyone ever attempted to propagate an Ensete ventricosum Maurelii?
They don't ever have pups. So to multiply you must divide when I dug it up this fall I cut the stalk completely off and quarter the corm. Now I'm kind of wondering how long it takes for shoots to come off of it. I checked one of the quarters and it wasn't rotting and was firmly rooted. I'm crossing my fingers that it works and I have bunch for trade.

I used to grow it, at my old house. I never replanted any out here. They are very hardy here. But you are right...no pups. They are selling them right now in Lowes. I was tempted but decided no

Don't buy them at Lowes I will most likely be giving them away. From what little research I have done things seem to be on track.