Best in Gardening

Are you compelled to stop and pick up every pin you see, and do you straighten pictures that hang crookedly on friends' walls? Or, do you, upon being introduced to a notable person, find yourself concentrating on a speck of lint on his suit instead of his conversation, fingers itching to flick off the speck? If these or other compulsions are yours, then perhaps you can understand mine - I am an incurable taker-of-cuttings.

A well-grown, healthy house plant means nothing to me except a source of cuttings. Gloxinia blossoms waste their beauty on me as I figure which leaves I can best remove. Instead of long, luxuriant vines, which is the aim of any normal window gardener, I have an assortment of vases, jars and jelly glasses filled with snips and bits which are being rooted in water. As a result, my windows are usually filled with choice and not-so-choice plants, all in a juvenile stage, and my interest in them wanes in direct proportion to the root growth they evidence. As soon as they are ready to be "on their own," out they must go, to make room for new cuttings.

The disposal of such a constant stream of small plants would normally present something of a problem, since throwing away a live plant is out of the question for me. Usually the school needs plants, or a church will ask for them for a bazaar, and flowering ones of easy culture are always welcomed by institutions for the aged. Friends who cull each crop are prone to choose only the choice ones, leaving the not-so-desirable plants still to be disposed of. This calls for extreme measures, and my rather devious solution to the problem is in fish tanks or bowls. Unoccupied at the time by fish, of course!

Giving any one of a variety of reasons or excuses as to why I want to borrow an empty fish tank for a few days, I plant in it as many cuttings as it will conveniently hold, return the tank to its rightful owner, and leave promptly. This prevents any immediate protests, and although they may be made later, they seldom materialize.

Even people who have been lukewarm in their liking for terrariums find that they "grow" on them, when the terrarium becomes a fair accomplishment in their home.

Thomas Fryd frequently contributes to www.plant-care.com. For more details on the topic of how to propagate plants.

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