Propagating Ajuga Plants – How To Propagate Bugleweed Plants


Ajuga – also known as bugleweed – is a tough, low growing groundcover. It offers bright, semi-evergreen foliage and showy flower spikes in amazing shades of blue. The vigorous plant grows in a carpet of shiny foliage and massed flowers, swiftly forming dense mats that require little maintenance. Ajuga plant propagation is so easy that the plants easily become invasive, rambling across the lawn and into places in the garden reserved for other plants. Read on for information about propagating ajuga plants.
Propagation of Ajuga Plants
Growing ajuga is easier than getting rid of it, so take its rapid growth into account before you decide on ajuga plant propagation. You’ll first want to prepare a garden space to plant your new ajuga. You’ll succeed best at ajuga plant propagation if you select a sunny area or one that is in light shade for the plant’s new home. Ajuga won’t flower well in full shade. Ajuga plants do best in moist, fertile soil. It’s a good idea to work in humus or other organic material to the soil before planting time.
How to Propagate Bugleweed
You can start propagating ajuga plants from plant seeds or by division.
Seeds
One way to start propagating ajuga plants is by planting seeds. If you decide to do this, sow ajuga plant seeds in containers in fall or spring. Just cover the seeds with a thin layer of compost and keep the soil moist. The seeds germinate in a month or less. Prick out the individual plants and place them in larger containers. In summer, move the young plants to your garden beds.
Division
Ajuga spread by underground runners called stolons. These runners root the plant in nearby soil and form clumps. The ajuga clumps will eventually get crowded and begin to lose vigor. This is the time to lift and divide them in order to obtain additional ajuga plants. Propagation of ajuga by division is an operation for early spring or fall. It’s a simple process. All you have to do is dig out the clumps and pull or cut them apart into smaller sections, then replant them in another location. You can also simply cut out big sections of plant mats – like lawn sod – and move them to a new location.
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Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.
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