How Can I Collect More Plants Without Breaking the Bank?

by | Jun 21, 2019 | annuals, General Gardening, Hydrangeas, Ornamental Shrubs, Perennials, Propagation, Trees, wildflowers

  • African iris blooms and foliage

    African iris Dietes iridioide can be propagated by clump division. Photo: J_McConnell, UF/IFAS

  • Hydrangea blooms

    Hydrangea cuttings can be rooted to create more plants. Photo: J_McConnell, UF/IFAS

  • Sunflower

    Sunflowers can be grown from seed and provide food for birds. Photo: J_McConnell, UF/IFAS

  • Pink zinnias

    One of the easiest flowers to grow from seed are Zinnias. If you let the flowers dry out they will reseed for the next year. Photo: J_McConnell, UF/IFAS

My obsession with plants started with the purchase of my first house in Waverly, Alabama in the late 90s. I bought a house with seven acres and of that about 1.5 acres was a fenced yard. The landscape was not very appealing, so I was on a mission to make it beautiful yet functional for my dogs. The only problem was, as a new homeowner, I had very little expendable income for my burgeoning plant habit. This dilemma forced me to be a resourceful gardener.

Shop the discount rack at garden centers

  • Many retail garden centers (especially mixed use stores with limited plant space) will discount plants simply because they are no longer flowering. Plants look perfectly healthy but are just not considered “retail ready” anymore, so rather than hold them over until they bloom again and appeal to most shoppers the stores tend to mark them down.
  • Plants are either growing or they are dead, so it is common to find some outgrowing their container and are getting “potbound” which means the root system is outgrowing the pot. Potbound plants are hard to keep watered without wilting and the solutions are to transition to a larger pot or plant in the ground. Most garden centers are not equipped to pot up overgrown plants to larger containers, so the easier solution is to sell them quickly. If you purchase a plant with circling roots be sure to trim the bottom and score (slice) the root ball to encourage roots to spread laterally.
  • Avoid plants that appear diseased (leaf spots, brown stems, mushy parts, rotting odor) or have active feeding insect activity.

Compliment other gardeners’ plants

  • When you get gardeners together, they inevitably start swapping plants. I really don’t have an explanation for this other that good old southern hospitality, but I’ve noticed over the years that when you express appreciation of plants to other people they tend to end up in your own yard. Ask if you can take a pinch (for cuttings) or offer to divide a clump of crowded perennials and you are on your way to a trunk full of plant babies.
  • I can’t recommend this for multiple safety reasons, but I have been known to photographs plants in my travels then strike up a conversation with a homeowner who insisted I take one home.

Experiment with basic propagation techniques

  • Grow flowers from seed. Either purchase seeds (usually under $2/pack) or collect seed heads from spent flowers in your own garden. After flowers fade, allow them to set seed then either crush and distribute in other parts of your garden or store in a cool, dry place until you can swap with friends.
  • Division – clumping perennials such as daylilies, cast iron plant, iris or liriope can be dug up and cut into smaller pieces with a shovel or machete. You only need to be sure to have buds on top and roots on the bottom to make a new plant. Other plants create offshoots that can be removed from the parent plant. Examples of these are agave, cycads, and yucca.
  • Cuttings – the list of plants that can be propagated from stem cuttings is endless but a few that are very easy are crape myrtle, hydrangea, and coleus.
  • Patented plants can not be propagated.

For more information read Plant Propagation Techniques for the Florida Gardener or contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Office.

Julie McConnell
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