by Colaine Swaby

Created on: July 28, 2009

There's no denying that one of the most rewarding experiences for any gardener is planting something and watching it grow and flourish. Raising plants from cuttings allows you to reproduce your favorite shrubbery many times over in order to beautify your own garden or share with friends and neighbors. You can even make some extra money selling the surplus to local nurseries and retail plant stores.

Cultivating from cuttings is a fairly simple process. But keep in mind that some plants are easier to root than others. Plants such as Coffee Rose and Crotons not just produce beautiful blooms and foliage but grow quite easily from cuttings with little effort on the part of the gardener. Mexican Bluebells also fall into this category but be careful as this is an invasive species and is quite hard to get rid of should the need arise. Others, like Bougainvillea, are much harder to root and the success rate of growing from cuttings is quite slim for the novice gardener.

Many people simply stick a clipping into the soil and hope that it grows. But there are more clear-cut methods of ensuring successful results. You will require just a few items to guarantee that your efforts at growing are triumphant. These include a sharp knife or cutting implement, rooting hormone (optional), a container with water, rooting medium, and a container for planting.

The first thing that you need to do is to decide what you want to grow and why you want to grow it. Once this is clear you should then prepare your rooting medium. Your rooting medium can be regular garden soil, a soil- sand mix, or soilless media such as loam or peat, depending on the type of plant you want to grow. Mixing soil with sand allows for better drainage and soilless media help to hold moisture while not becoming too wet, thereby discouraging rot and disease. Simply place whatever medium you choose your planting container.

Ensure that the mother plant you select is healthy and hardy. Choose a green stem on the mother plant as these are much easier to grow than the hard, woody stems. Examine it carefully to make sure it doesn't have any parasites or disease that could spread. Use a sharp pair of scissors or a knife that has been sterilized; you can use alcohol for this purpose, and cut the stem just below the joint or node. After cutting, remove most of the leaves but not all. Removing most of the leaves help the plant to grow with less effort because having too much leaves will sap the plant's

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