Propagating The Easy Way
3 easy plants to root in water on your windowsill
There’s something rather magical about taking a small piece of a plant, popping it into a glass of water and watching roots begin to appear.
Of course, the plant is doing something perfectly natural — but I still find it rather wonderful.
In fact, one of my favourite propagation successes happened completely by accident, leading to whole new collection of shrubs!
More about those later. First, let’s have a go ourselves.
What is propogation?
Propagation simply means creating new plants from existing ones.
There are lots of ways to do it. We can sow seeds, divide established plants, take cuttings, layer stems and use several other techniques.
For this little experiment we're going to take stem cuttings and root them in water.
It isn't suitable for every plant, but it's a brilliant place to start because you can actually see what's happening.
Instead of wondering whether anything is going on beneath the compost, you can watch those first tiny roots appear and gradually develop into a new root system.
And you don't need much equipment either — a clean pair of scissors or secateurs, a few glasses or jars and some water will do nicely.
Oh, and you'll need some plants! If you're already a member of the Happy Place Garden Project, you'll have plenty of people to ask.
Three easy plants to try
🌿 Mint
If you've never taken a cutting before, mint is a great place to start. It's vigorous, forgiving and generally rather enthusiastic about making more mint.
Choose a healthy, non-flowering shoot approximately 10–15cm long.
Make your cut just below a node — the point on the stem where the leaves emerge. Remove the leaves from the bottom section, leaving several healthy leaves at the top.
Put the cutting into a small glass or jar of water, making sure at least one or two nodes are submerged but no leaves are sitting underwater.
Place it somewhere bright but out of strong direct sunlight.
You should begin to see roots developing surprisingly quickly.
Why mint? Mint readily produces roots from its stems, which is one of the reasons it can spread so enthusiastically around the garden. That makes it an excellent confidence-building plant for your first attempt.
🌸 Fuchsia
Fuchsias are another good choice, particularly if you have plenty of healthy young growth.
Choose a healthy, non-flowering shoot and take a cutting around 7–10cm long, again cutting just below a node.
Remove the lower leaves and any flowers or flower buds. We want our cutting putting its resources into establishing itself rather than trying to produce flowers.
Stand the stem in water with the lower node submerged and keep it somewhere light and warm, but away from harsh direct sunshine.
Be patient. It may take a little longer than the mint, but watching those first roots emerge is enormously satisfying.
Once you've successfully rooted one, you may find yourself looking at every fuchsia you see and thinking...
"I could take a cutting of that."
Welcome to gardening.
🌿 Basil
Basil is wonderfully obliging too — and particularly useful if, like me, you enjoy growing things you can eat.
Choose a healthy, non-flowering stem about 10–15cm long and make your cut just below a node.
Remove the lower leaves, leaving a few sets at the top, and pop the stem into a glass of water with at least one node below the surface.
Put it somewhere warm and bright, away from intense direct sunlight, and change the water regularly.
Basil can produce roots remarkably quickly. Once you've got a good little network of roots, pot it into compost and keep it well watered while it establishes.
Once it's growing strongly, regularly pinching out the growing tips encourages the plant to branch and become bushier — while conveniently providing you with plenty of leaves for the kitchen.
One plant becomes several plants.
Several plants become pesto.
Now that's propagation with a purpose.
A few simple rules
Whichever plant you're trying, a few basic principles will improve your chances of success.
Start with healthy material. Avoid diseased, damaged or struggling shoots. Give your new plant the best possible start.
Use clean, sharp scissors or secateurs. A clean cut causes less damage to the stem and reduces the opportunity for disease to enter.
Find the nodes. Look for the points where leaves emerge from the stem. For our three plants, having a node submerged in the water is important because this is where roots are likely to develop.
Remove submerged leaves. Leaves sitting underwater are likely to rot.
Avoid blazing sunshine. Your cutting has leaves but, initially, no roots to replace the water it's losing. Bright, indirect light is generally a better choice.
Keep the water fresh. Change it every few days, particularly if it becomes cloudy.
And try not to pull the cutting out every five minutes to see whether it's doing anything.
I know. It's tempting.
What's actually happening?
This is the fascinating 'sciency' bit.
When we take our cutting, we've separated it from the root system that previously supplied it with water and nutrients. But the leaves haven't stopped working. They're still losing water through a process called transpiration. That's one reason we remove some of the leaves. Fewer leaves mean less surface area from which water can be lost while our cutting is trying to establish itself.
Given the right conditions, the cutting can begin producing adventitious roots — simply roots that develop from somewhere other than the plant's existing root system. As those new roots develop, our cutting gradually becomes capable of absorbing the water and nutrients it needs for itself.
We've essentially persuaded one little piece of plant to become a whole new plant.
Because a cutting is produced vegetatively rather than from seed, it is genetically identical to the parent plant — essentially a clone. That means it should retain the characteristics of the plant you took it from.
Plants really are rather clever.
My accidental hydrangeas
Sometimes propagation happens when you aren't even trying.
Years ago, I bought a large bunch of hydrangeas from a florist and enjoyed them in a vase.
Eventually the flowers faded and I went to throw them away.
But when I lifted them out of the vase, I discovered something I hadn't expected.
Several of the stems had grown roots.
Well, there was absolutely no possibility of putting them in the bin after that!
I potted up my little accidental cuttings and waited to see what would happen.
They survived.
Then they grew.
And grew.
Those first little miracles are now some of my favourite plants in the garden, and I have several large, healthy hydrangea shrubs that all started life as flowers in a vase. Now I can't pass them without snipping off a stem to add to my windowsill laboratory!
It's one of the things I love about gardening. However much we learn, plants retain the ability to surprise us.
Not every florist's hydrangea is going to obligingly produce roots, of course. Cut flowers may have been harvested, stored and treated in very different ways. But hydrangeas can be propagated from suitable stem cuttings, so if you ever discover roots developing in a vase...
I'd certainly give them a chance!
What else could you try?
Once you've successfully rooted your first few cuttings, you may find yourself wondering what else you can put in a jar of water. I'm currently trying some Oenothera lindheimeri, commonly known as Guara, because I'd love a hedge of this beautiful 'butterfly bush'.
There are plenty of possibilities.
You could experiment with:
Coleus
Pelargoniums
Tradescantia
Oregano
Sage
and, of course, hydrangea
Some will be more cooperative than others, and for many garden plants propagation in a suitable growing medium will ultimately be more reliable than water.
But that's part of the fun.
Experiment. Observe. Learn.
Take several cuttings rather than one and see what happens.
When should I pot them up?
Don't be in too much of a hurry. But equally don't forget about them (see my basil cuttings above!!)
Wait until your cutting has developed several healthy roots rather than potting it up the moment you spot the first tiny white one.
Once you've got a small network of roots, gently transfer your new plant into a pot of suitable compost.
Water it well and keep it somewhere sheltered while it adjusts.
Roots that have developed in water are accustomed to very different conditions from roots growing in compost, so your new plant may need a little extra attention during the transition.
Keep the compost moist initially, but don't leave it waterlogged.
What if nothing happens?
Welcome to propagation!
Sometimes it simply doesn't work.
If the stem turns brown and mushy, discard it and try again.
If the water becomes cloudy, replace it and clean the container.
If the leaves wilt badly, the cutting may be losing water faster than it can replace it.
And if absolutely nothing happens after several weeks?
Try another cutting.
Even experienced gardeners don't achieve a 100% success rate.
You're not failing when a cutting dies. You're learning something about what that particular plant needs.
From one plant to many
This is one of my favourite things about propagation.
You start with one plant.
Then you have two.
Then four.
And before long you're wandering around asking everyone:
"Would you like a mint plant?"
And this is where propagation fits so beautifully with the Happy Place Garden Project.
Gardening doesn't have to mean constantly buying new plants. We can grow them, divide them, save seeds, take cuttings and share what we have.
A cutting from your garden might eventually become part of somebody else's garden — and perhaps one of theirs will find its way back to yours.
That's gardening, learning and community all rolled into one.
Have a go!
Find a healthy mint, fuchsia or basil plant and take a couple of cuttings.
Then let us know how you get on in Garden Chat.
And if you have another plant that roots ridiculously easily, share that too. One of the joys of the Happy Place Garden Project is that we can all learn from each other.
And if your propagation experiment is rather too successful and you end up with more plants than you know what to do with?
Bring them along to our next gathering. Someone will give them a home. 🌱
If you're not yet a member of our growing community, drop me an email or text and I'll send you an invite to our next meeting. Details at the foot of the page.
