Dementia for 2

If you follow Small Footprints, then you are familiar with her weekly environmental challenges. If not, you should pop over and check out her blog. She has some very informative articles and great tips for living a greener life.

This week's challenge is about plant of all sorts. So, I thought I would write about some of the plants that I have and how easy they are to grow.

The first is the Rose Of Sharon tree. You should plant this in early spring, but you can start it in a pot in your home and move it to the yard in the spring. You don't have to go out and buy this tree if you know someone that has one. Just clip some branches off of an existing tree. You want your clippings to be about 2 feet long. I started mine in just a jar of water. Once you clip them, they will lose their leaves but these do come back. I left them in water for about 2 weeks and then planted them in the yard. They come in a variety of colors and you can also find the single or double flowering kind. The make a good privacy border or filler for a spot in your yard.



The other plant that I started from clippings, is the Forsythia Bush. This is a beautiful bush with small yellow flowers. It also can be pink or white depending on the variety. I did not do so well this year with my transplants mainly because of the heat. So, if you decide to start one of these bushes, I would suggest that you do it when it is cooler so that the shock won't be too much for it. I am going to get more clippings from my mom this weekend. If left unattended, these can grow quite large. So prune them if you don't want a huge bush.



You can also start many houseplants from clippings. You will need some type of jar/bottle and a windowsill. Just put a little dirt in the bottom and fill with water. Add your clippings and when they take root, move to pots.

A lot of friends will trade plant clippings. If you receive any clippings and you are away from home, take wet paper towels and wrap the clippings in them. Put this in a plastic bag and they should keep for several hours. Below are some common houseplants that can be started from clippings.

They are: Wandering Jew, Airplane or Spider plant, and Money plant.

Happy planting!