Courtney, with the help of Lise, introduced a group of twenty members to the simple joys of leaf propagation on March 10 at Denver Botanic Gardens. First, she showed us all the blindingly easy technique of taking a leaf cutting from coleus and begonia plants and plopping them in small jars of water, which will then send out roots and be transplanted into small pots. She then demonstrated the only slightly more complicated way to propagate from the leaves of a Cape Primrose, or Streptocarpus, plant. The hardest part of the preparation for Courtney was finding enough volunteers to eat prepared meals from Whole Foods, so she could accumulate the requisite number of trays and covers for fashioning temporary terrariums.
After slicing the leaf’s center midrib away on both sides, we simply took the two remaining halves of the leaf and placed them cut side down into trenches in the moistened potting soil in the trays, pinching the soil around them to keep them upright until they began to root. Mine are sitting on my south-facing kitchen table in bright, not direct, sunlight. In a month or two, I am expecting to see little plants growing directly out of the veins of the cuttings. Fingers crossed!
This last workshop completes the requirements for the GCD Flower Show, Horticulture Class III – A Growing Passion. Participants will bring their specimens from both the Sow Bag and Leaf propagations in their original containers for what will be a demonstration of the first phase of these plants. If all goes well, next June some full grown Streptocarpus and Ratibida columnifera “Mexican Hat” plants will be on display!
Story by Mary F. Photos by Sarah A.
