Hi, I’m Nora.
Propagate One started with one overgrown pothos and a pair of scissors. I cut it back, stuck the trimmings in a jar of water, and a few weeks later I had roots — and a small obsession. Fifteen years on, that obsession has turned into a garden full of plants I never paid for, grown from cuttings, divisions, and seeds.
I built this site to be the guide I wish I’d had at the start: clear, honest, and free of the noise. Every propagation guide here is written the way I’d explain it to a friend leaning over my kitchen counter — what to cut, where to cut it, what to put it in, and what to actually expect week by week. No horticulture degree required, because I don’t have one either. What I have is years of trial, error, dead cuttings, and the ones that finally took.
What you’ll find here
Propagation guides for real homes. Pothos, roses, geraniums, African violets, rosemary, zinnias, coleus, hibiscus, lilacs, and more — step-by-step methods tested on windowsills and in an ordinary backyard, not a commercial greenhouse. If a technique needs fancy equipment, I’ll tell you the simpler version that works too.
Seed starting and winter sowing. The low-cost, low-tech ways to grow a lot of plants from a single packet of seeds.
A tissue-culture reference library. For the more technically minded, the site also keeps a growing library of plant tissue-culture media formulas and references. It’s a different, more advanced corner than the hobbyist guides — a resource for people experimenting with sterile propagation — but it lives under the same roof because it’s all part of the same craft: making more plants.
How I write these guides
I keep it plain. Real steps, honest timelines, and the mistakes to avoid — because I’ve made most of them. When I say a cutting roots in two to three weeks, it’s because that’s what happened on my counter, not what a textbook promised. Gardening is forgiving; you don’t need to get it perfect, you just need to start.
Get in touch
Got a plant that won’t root, a question, or a method that worked for you? I’d love to hear it. Reach out at nora.ellison@propagate.one — real replies from a real gardener.
Now go make more plants.
— Nora Ellison, Founder, Propagate One