The Cut Flower Podcast

What is propagation?

• Roz Chandler • Season 1 • Episode 152

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0:00 | 8:51

Text Agony Aunt Roz with your Cutflower Questions.

Roz Chandler explores the transformative power of plant propagation, emphasizing its cost-saving, empowering, and sentimental benefits. She shares practical insights and encourages listeners to start propagating plants to gain independence, create legacies, and enjoy the process.

Takeaways

  • The concept of propagation and its benefits
  • Cost savings and independence in gardening
  • Creating plant legacies and stories
  • Getting started with propagation and overcoming confusion
  • Practical steps to begin propagating

To join our Spring Propagation classes click here.


Rosalind Chandler (00:00)
Welcome back to the Cut Flower Podcast. I'm really glad you've popped in. Do share this episode with anybody that you know will be interested and do subscribe. It's lovely having you here. So we're going to do a three part series over the next few weeks, think, talking about propagation because it's something I do. You know what? The first thing is I hate the name propagation. So if someone else can come up with a better name than propagation.

That would be amazing. It sounds really technical. It's just not. I'd like to call it plants for free. So we are going to be talking about something that hand on heart completely changed the way I grow, the way I run my business and actually the way I think about plants altogether. The magic word is propagation. Now I know that word can feel a bit technical. I've told you if you can come up with something else, that'd be great. But the truth is one of the simplest and most powerful things you can learn because this is the reality. If you're not

propagating you are constantly buying in and that adds up financially practically emotionally it just adds up I remember in the early days buying in plug plants trays bits here and there loads and loads of seeds always needing more always thinking just a few more and I'll be there and you'll never ever quite there because you're relying on someone else's supply you're waiting for deliveries you're watching your costs go up and if you're in business your margins get squeezed

and then something shifted for me. I started to realize I already got everything I need. It's already there. I just need to multiply it. And that is what propagation is. It's taking one plant and turning it into many. And once you see it like that, everything changes. So let's talk about the cost because we just can't ignore it. Growing flowers is not cheap. Seeds, compost, trays, infrastructure, it all adds up, particularly when you add in foliage and perennials.

And if you're buying in plants every year, that becomes one of your biggest outgoing costs. And when you propagate, you start to reduce that dependency. You're no longer thinking, I need to buy 50 plants. You're thinking, how do I make 50 plants from what I've already got? And that is a completely different mindset because suddenly your cost per plant drops, your cost per stem drops, and you're selling flowers. If you're selling commercially, they have a direct impact on your profit. And even if you're not selling, even if you're just growing for the joy of it, it means you can have more.

more flowers, more abundance, more to give away without constantly spending and the world we're in now that totally matters. But it's not just about the money, it's about the independence. This is something people don't talk about. When we rely on buying plants, you are tied into supply chains, availability, pricing and timing. And we've all seen how unpredictable that can be. Propagation puts you back in control. You're not waiting for someone else.

You're not hoping someone comes into stock and you are creating your own supply that builds confidence. And because you know what, whatever happens, you can grow. And then there's the legacy I quite often see on a number of my groups that somebody can't find a rose. That's the name of their grandma that's just passed away. And there used to be a rose that was called after her and they really would like it. And actually they don't have it and it's where can they get cuttings of it.

So it's about legacies too, and this is the bit I really love because plants aren't just plants are they? They just hold stories. You might have something from your mum's garden, a cutting from a friend, something you picked up years ago and it's just stayed with you. When you propagate you're continuing that story. You're not just growing more plants, you're passing something on and I think in a world where everything is so fast, so disposable, there's something really grounding about doing just that. You take a cutting.

You take six cuttings off a rose, you nurture them and then maybe you give it to someone else and that plant carries on. That to me is incredibly special and it's something we don't talk often enough about in growing. It's not just production, it's connection. And honestly, it's fun. So over these three parts series, we're going to be diving into all the ways of propagation. But today I just want to set the scene of why you should even think about doing it.

But it's fun, let's not underestimate this. When you take a cutting of a rose and it takes, there is something deeply satisfying about it. Or you're sowing from seed or you're splitting a plant and you watch it grow. It never gets old. I've been doing it 15 years and it's never get old. You feel a bit like a magician if I'm honest. You look at something and think, I made that. And once you start, you'll see opportunities elsewhere. I do love plants for free. I don't know whether it's just I like creating things.

When I was a child I used to make pots out of clay in the garden and I used to love it because it didn't cost anything and I could make lots and they were great and very functional and I wonder if it comes from childhood about creating something that doesn't cost you anything and it's lots of fun. I could take a cutting from that, that could be divided, I could grow more of those and it becomes this constant genuine curiosity and that's because when growing becomes more than just a task it becomes something you're really really engaged in.

So a really quick reality check. Now I do want to say this, if you've ever felt like propagation is confusing, you're not alone. There is a lot of language around it. Softwood, semi-ripe, hardwood, division, and it can make you feel like you need to get it all right before you start. Honestly, you don't. You really don't. This is something you learn by doing it, trying, observing, adjusting. Plants want to grow. You're working with nature, not a guess instead.

And in the next episode we're going to make this really simple and strip it right back so we know exactly where to start. So here's what I want you to do after listening to this podcast. I want you to go and look at your plants, whether that's in your garden, your greenhouse, your windowsill, your field and just pick one plant. What is that plant? Is it a rose? Is it a salvia? What is it? Best to choose some foliage or a perennial. Just one and ask yourself, could I make more of this? Just don't overthink it. Just start noticing.

because that's where it all begins. Now of course there's a time for everything and each plant has its time and each plant has its way of propagation. But you know we will talk about that and if you're sitting there thinking I want to do this properly I want to understand it's just not guessing that's exactly what we do inside our Roots to Shoots propagation course. We run it twice a year we're just about to run it again at the end of April and we'd love you to join us. We'll take you through the journey.

the summer. We take you all the way through and guide you through step by step, month by month, so you know what to do, when to do it and how to propagate. But for now just start looking at plants differently and I will see you in the next episode. We will put in the show notes the link to our Facebook page which talks all about Roots to Shoots with loads and loads of resources. Please just join us over there. We have two live master classes which will be streamed in there

on the 27th and 28th of April. So I'm hoping that you will register and join us. See you all on the next one.