Trees and Plants from Little Bits

Everything wants to live.  This includes the bits of stored energy in citrus and avocado seeds, cuttings of herbs, scraps of vegetables, rhizomes like ginger and turmeric.  Some of the strongest tomato plants are volunteers that overwintered in soil or a compost pile.

Short lists of plants I started from stem cuttings, roots appeared a week or two after soaking in a glass of water, After pots appear I planted up in soil, some edible, some decorative:
Thai basil, sprigs from restaurant
Mint lemon balm
Green basil
Green onions
Romaine and endive lettuces
Pothos
Rose, one time cut flower started sprouting new leaves and stems
Natal palm, super pretty trailing plant (discarded clippings from husband's bonsai)
Purple wandering jew (found on sidewalk next to street planter), pictured below
Purple heart, pictured below

Plants started from leaves or stems, rooted directly in soil:

African violet

Begonia

Willow branches, from dumpster dived weding arrangement, became trees over 6 feet tall

Sections of corn plant (tropical plant), pictured below

Plants started by pushing fresh seed in a pot with soil:

Avocado, didn't bother with the suspended on toothpicks method

Orange and lemon pips (once gave a miniature citrus orchard to a coworker)

Lychee 

Tomatoes 

Plants that have mini me's:

Bromiliads

Mother in law tongue/ snake plant

Aloes

Plants with runners:

Lily of the valley

Strawberry

Ferns

Wild ginger (pictured below)

Plants started by pushing parts under soil:

Sprouted garlic cloves in the fall

Sprouted onion bulbs

Turmeric rhizomes

Ginger rhizomes

Today was warm outside, so I potted up some of the above. With a little luck, we'll see some sprouts that will add beauty and life to our shady, concrete "patio." 

My back up plan includes ordering caladium corms http://happinessfarms.com/

to plant from the aptly named Happiness Farm in Florida. They always spring up in festive explosions of color.  I order the combination of the large leaved varieties.  My only regret is that I have not been able to overwinter them.  Even our furnace closet doesn't keep the corms from perishing.  Frugal and chilly, that's our winter. So I reorder and look forward to the beautiful burst of color over our long summer.

African violets

I got interested in African Violets after reading a novel where the woman faked her death to escape her abusive husband.  In preparation, she took a single leaf from each of her beloved plants, wrapped them into a plastic bag, and took with her.  The author must've loved them herself because quite a bit of description went into the how to of propagation. 

I can't think of the title,  later it was made into a movie starring Julia Roberts.

 I started each of these plants from a single leaf/stem that rooted in water.  My sister-in-law was kind enough to allow me to break off little starters from the plants in her south facing bathroom.  They rooted after several weeks in a narrow topped tiny vase. The leaves rot if they get wet, so I was careful not to let them touch water.

The red leafed plant is a begonia.  Flowers are small and delicate pink.

It is underplanted with an African Violet. 

 I don't know the names of any of the varieties. some have rounded leave, some are a bit oblong or have slightly ruffled edges.

Dumpster dived plates and pots.  The cute blue ceramic "watering can" is a favorite. 

Love the purple flower.  Will start saving and soaking eggshells.  

I read someplace that the calcium will increase the blooms.

Upper right shows 2 single, rooted leaves.  It takes a while to start a new little cluster.  One time I got tired of looking at a raggedy big leaf, stared to break off the "bad" parts of it, and discovered a little cluster of baby leaves growing under it.  Pretty hardy overall. 

These are all in a south facing window.

Mint! Also started from a small stem segment that rooted in water.

The other summer I had such good luck with rooting basil stems and increasing the number of plants.  The new plants kept the neighborhood thieves very happy I'm sure.