Whenever my mother received a bunch of carnations she would pinch out the green shoots and plant them in the garden. Within a few months they had turned into small plants and soon after flowers would follow. My parent’s garden was always full of plants but I never saw them buying any of them or going to a nursery. It was always a matter of exchanging seeds with other Italians or taking a cutting and propagating it. There was something miraculous about this because it was making something out of almost nothing. I remember being enchanted by the idea of propagation and would pinch new shoots from plants on the way home from school and try to grow them. I found it wasn’t that hard and had a lot of success. I still love the idea, but pushed for time, I often end up buying seedlings off the shelf. However, a few years ago a friend gave me a small pot of ornamental indoor lilies. When they died off I dug the bulbs into the garden and that small pot has become around 50 plants and every spring they pop up underneath the mango tree and put on a show.