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From the Fairy Garden

Take a little piece of the garden home

Welcome, Fairy Garden visitor! Proplifting means taking a small cutting from a plant and growing it into a brand-new plant of your own. You're invited to do just that. Here's how to do it kindly, and how to help your cutting grow.

How to grow your cutting
A mulched garden path lined with yellow flowers leading to a welcome sign

Garden manners

  • Take one small cutting, about the length of your finger, so there's plenty left for the next visitor.
  • Snip or gently pinch a stem tip. Please don't pull plants up by their roots.
  • Leave the flowers for the fairies (and the bees). Cuttings root best without blooms anyway.
  • Stay on the path and watch your step around the little houses.
  • Little gardeners, please bring a grown-up along to help.

How to grow your cutting

  1. Choose a healthy stem

    Pick a green, bendy stem tip with a few leaves and no flowers. Cut just below a leaf node, the little bump where a leaf joins the stem.

  2. Tidy up the bottom

    Pull off the lowest leaves so you have a bare inch or two of stem. Roots will grow from those bare nodes.

  3. Give it water or soil

    Stand the stem in a glass of water, or poke it into a small pot of damp potting mix. Succulent cuttings are different: let them sit out for a couple of days until the cut end dries over, then set them on dry soil.

  4. Find a bright spot

    Bright light but not harsh afternoon sun, like a windowsill. Change the water every few days, or keep the soil lightly damp.

  5. Be patient

    Most cuttings grow roots in two to four weeks. When the roots are about an inch long, move it into a pot or a sunny spot in your own garden.

Sample page — Susan, edit anything here to match how the Fairy Garden actually works.

What grows easily from cuttings?

Plants with soft green stems are the easiest to start: coleus, mint, basil, pothos, and many succulents root readily. Woody stems and most flowering annuals are trickier, but it never hurts to try!

Happy growing!

While you're here, take a look around the rest of the garden.

See the galleryRead the journal