Spring growth

Schefflera has baby leaves sprouting everywhere

Avocado plant leaves are growing and unfolding...exciting to see

Asiatic lily is getting ready to bloom again

Mint Juleps & Mojitos, coming up!

I was happy to stumble upon this large patch of mint growing in my neighborhood. It smelled so sweetly fragrant that I could not resist pinching a leaf off for some scratch and sniff action; the fuzzy leaves released a wonderful fragrance when rubbed between two fingers.

I returned the next day with a sharp pair of scissors to take cut some clippings in order to try propagating them at home. I am currently trying 3 methods of growing new mint plants from the cuttings. I started with clippings from the same mint shrub on 3/28/11, and I am excited to see which method works the best over the next few weeks.

1. I cut a stem with 4-5 sections and plant directly in soil. I covered each node with about 1/2" of dirt in this pot, making sure that the leaves at each node stayed exposed above the dirt. I am watering daily, and making sure it gets a few hours of sunlight each day and if I've got it right, roots will grow from each node, and I will have more chances of the mint plant thriving than with a single root system. I think I should have used a longer narrow planter to give the cutting more room to root and grow, but we shall see!

2. I placed cuttings upright directly into soil, am watering daily and rotating between a sunny outside perch and indirect sunlight indoors.
3. I placed 2 cuttings in water, which are sitting on an indoor shelf with daily indirect sunlight. After several weeks I expect to see roots begin to grow from the stem, and at that point I will transfer to dirt.