Gadenin日本語Get the appCuttings are the method that matters
Gazania is a tender perennial, and cuttings are how you exploit that. Take a handful of shoots in late summer, root them in a few weeks, keep them frost-free through winter and you have plants ready to go out as soon as it is warm in spring - earlier, larger and flowering sooner than anything you can buy. The same stock can be carried on indefinitely this way. Buying fresh plants every year is a habit, not a necessity.
The right material is a side shoot from the base of the plant, three to four inches (8-10 cm) long, with a small heel of older tissue if you can get one. These basal shoots root far more readily than the soft tips of flowering stems. Take them in late summer, while the weather is still warm but before the plant has been checked by cold nights, and take more than you need since a proportion always fail.
Everything about the process should stay on the dry side. Gazania cuttings rot far more easily than they dry out, so no covering, no propagator lid, and no standing water.
- Choose and cut the shoots Pick non-flowering side shoots coming from the base of a healthy plant, 3-4 in (8-10 cm) long. Pull each one downwards so it comes away with a small heel of older tissue, or cut cleanly just below a leaf joint with a sharp blade.
- Strip and trim Remove the lower leaves so the bottom third to half of the stem is bare, and pinch off any flower bud. Leave three or four leaves at the top. If the remaining leaves are large, halve them across to cut water loss.
- Insert into a gritty mix Fill pots or trays with a very free-draining mix, roughly half all-purpose potting mix and half sharp sand or perlite. Push each cutting in about an inch (2-3 cm) deep around the edge of the pot and firm lightly. Rooting hormone helps a little but is not required.
- Keep them warm, bright and barely moist Stand the pots somewhere bright but out of full scorching midday sun, ideally around 65-70F (18-21C). Water once at insertion, then only enough to stop the mix drying out completely. Do not cover them; trapped humidity causes rot.
- Check for roots and pot on After about three to four weeks give a cutting a very gentle tug. Resistance means roots. Pot rooted cuttings individually into 3-4 in (8-10 cm) pots of gritty potting mix and grow them on frost-free until spring.
Getting overwintered cuttings through to spring
Young rooted plants need a bright frost-free place through the cold months: a cool windowsill, a frost-free greenhouse or a porch that stays above about 40F (4C). Cool and bright beats warm and dim, because warmth with poor light produces long weak growth that will not transplant well.
Water very sparingly - roughly every two to three weeks is often enough, just before the compost goes bone dry - and do not feed at all until growth restarts in late winter. More overwintered gazanias are lost to a kindly gardener watering them at the darkest point of winter than to cold. Pinch out the growing tips once in late winter to encourage a bushier plant.
Start hardening them off when the danger of frost has passed, giving them increasing time outdoors over ten days or so, then plant out into their permanent lean sunny position. These plants typically flower two to three weeks earlier than newly bought ones and are noticeably tougher.
Division and saved seed
An established clump that has come through a mild winter and widened into a mat can be divided in spring, once new growth is clearly moving. Lift the whole plant, tease or cut it into sections each with its own roots and a good piece of crown, discard any woody or dead middle, and replant at the original depth on a slightly raised mound. Water once to settle and then leave the divisions dry; they establish quickly in warm soil.
Seed is the other route. Gazania sets seed freely, and each spent flower left on the plant produces a head of fluffy, dandelion-like seed that pulls away easily when it is dry and light brown. Collect on a dry day, separate the fluff, and store in a paper envelope somewhere cool and dry. Sow the following spring.
Seed saved from a garden plant will not come true. Gazanias cross freely with each other, and the seedlings show a wide scatter of colors and markings - some plain, some far less striking than the parent. That is worth doing for the surprise and the volume, but if you want the exact plant you already have, take cuttings instead.
| Method | When to do it | Timescale | Comes true to parent? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basal cuttings | Late summer, before cold nights | Roots in 3-4 weeks | Yes, identical |
| Division of a clump | Spring, as growth restarts | Establishes in 2-3 weeks | Yes, identical |
| Saved seed | Collect when heads are dry and fluffy | Germinates in 1-2 weeks in warmth | No, colors vary widely |
| Self-sown seedlings | Appear the following early summer | Flower in their first season | No, and often weaker |
Self-sown seedlings, and what to write down
In warm dry gardens gazania self-sows modestly. Seedlings turn up in gravel, path cracks and the edges of beds - almost always in the hottest, poorest spots, because that is where the conditions suit germination. They are easy to lift while small and move to where you want them, and they are worth keeping if only because they show you exactly which parts of your garden this plant likes best.
Record the date you took cuttings, how many you took, and how many rooted. That single ratio, kept over two seasons, tells you whether your timing is right; a rate below about half usually means the cuttings went in too late in the year or were kept too wet. Note also where the mother plant was growing, so you know which of your plants is the one worth carrying forward, and mark the date you first potted the rooted cuttings on so you can judge how big they should be by spring.