Flower and Foliage Farm: Cuttings

The best way to quickly increase the number of plants we grow for you.

 

Last year I took a lot of  cuttings, with varying degrees of success. Some like these Hebes did so well, only to be munched by slugs in the Autumn….!  This is one of the best, cost effective ways to increase my plant stocks.

 

When I decide which plants to grow I look at a few things.

  • Existing knowledge about the plant and especially vase life.
  • How quickly it grows – a slow grower means a smaller harvest which means more £ per stem.
  • Can I grow it in my soil?
  • What does it offer the florist? Foliage, branch, berry, flowers? Is it a filler, is it a star of the show? Will it flower and be a cost effective ‘additonal flower’ in arrangements and a great support act for the showy blooms? Whats its style? Wild, modern, tropical, on trend, romantic? So much to think about and of course fashions change but shrubs take 4-5 years before you can start to harvest them!

The pink willow above is one of the easyest plants to propagate from a cutting – pratically 100% success rate.

You can see that the two Hebes, the pink and white flowers have taken well. The white hebe will be a marvellous summer filler when it really gets going producing long 5cm long flower spikes.

I am very excited about the two beautiful Wattle plants. The yellow fluff ball is beautiful in the wild (I used to live in Australia), so I have high hopes for these babies, I just need to check if Wattle cuttings need any special treatment.

You can see I have some Sage, and I also have Purple Sage in the poly tunnel as well as Rosemary.

My Artemisia will deliver fine silverly foliage. Quite special. Imagine it paired with white blooms and of course its evergreen too.

Finally the Fatsia japonica. One of the few tropical looking big glossy leaved plants we can grow ouotside in the UK and its taken. Soo happy with this one. I just need to pot them on now!