growing mexican petunias from cuttings

I'm riding on my luck in growing stuff from cuttings so this time around, I'm trying to propagate our one measly petunia in a container--a gift from another one of our Filipino friends.

So far, the li'l buggers are holding up nicely.

This time around, I didn't add any secret sauce. I wonder how they'll fare...

Anyways, once these cuttings grow up and flower, I'm hoping they'll look as beautiful as these ones:

image by perfectplaces.iivi-designs.com

One thing I like about Mexican petunias is the fact that they're quite hardy here in Florida. In fact, they're a familiar sight in most every front yards we drive by.

One unique thing about this Florida perennial: the flowers hang around only for a day. They bloom early in the morning and by evening, the blooms are already resting on the ground.

And they're such show-offs. The brilliant purple flowers are so pleasing to the eyes, you'd want them to stay around longer than a day.

What I like about the Mexican petunia though is that from spring to spring--barring any frost--they'll keep flowering and flowering and flowering.

It's like they're trying to make up for their inability to last beyond a day by constantly bombarding you with more of their blooms...year round if they can help it.

growing lantana from cuttings, week 2

The other day, I visited my lantana cuttings to air them out a bit.

They're already on the second week in the mini greenhouse I erected around them. Google said it was time to expose them bit by bit to the outside world.

I remember starting out with just two leaves at the tips and now, I see that they have grown four to each.

Some even had new leaf growths.

To give the leaves leeway as they sprout up and out, I placed wire frames to hold the Ziploc plastic that I'll be putting back in place.

I hope when I transfer them to individual pots next week, they'll survive the transplant with wonderful aplomb.:)

growing lantana from cuttings, week 1

Friday the 13th! Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Superstitions aside, looks like the 10 shoots of lantana I'm trying to root from cuttings are doing fine.

Hard to validate for sure but beyond the water droplets are 5 lantana cuttings which are doing great.

Contrary to my long-held belief that I'm a brown (possible black?) thumb who can't grow anything without roots, these cuttings are giving me hope that I've finally grown my green thumb. (Oh, please God, puhlease.)

How did I do it?

As usual, I fired up Google's engine for the step-by-step.

Turns out the best way to root lantana from a cutting is to cut a young green tender branch two nodes from the tip. As soon as you do, place the branches in water if there's a time lag between the time you took them from the mother plant to the time you stick them into a pot.

I did just that, then filled two black growing pots with potting soil. I removed the lower leaves on the branches, saving the top two ones at the tip, then stuck the cuttings into the soil.

Of course, I added my special juice as insurance for a quicker rooting.

No, I didn't use a rooting hormone--no time to go get it from Lowe's or Home Depot. What I did was dissolve 1/3 teaspoon of a biological solution that has mycorrhizal fungi in water. These happy microscopic bugs are known to help the growing and rooting process along. A beat or so later (possibly 5 minutes), I watered the pot gently with regular water.

To create a hospitable growing environment, I encased the pot in a 1-gallon Ziploc and tied a string round the midsection of the container. The tiny greenhouse appears to be doing its job of supporting growth.

When the lantana are ready, I plan to transfer them to a barren island in our front yard. That totally brown thing is the first thing I see when I look out my bedroom window and it's such a sorry sight. I'm hoping the flowers will provide a cheery backdrop when I take a break from writing copy.

i'm hoping my lantana cuttings will turn out
as beautiful as their parents