I think that's a fantastic looking plant! PG's idea of gently wedging a rock against the base would probably be all it needs to be upright. I probably wouldn't take many cuttings from that now since hopefully it will make some flower buds soon. Since it's not yet, I wonder if it's in a room where you have bright lights on after sunset? "...prefer to be root bound." No plant prefers that. What is happening is root rot in pots of stuff that has no air pockets in it, and takes forever to dry out. As long as one has a chunky, porous, airy mix, and doesn't constantly pour water in there (or allow it to sit in a drip saucer,) the pot size is irrelevant. It can take some doing to figure out what kind of soil goes well with the kind of plant person you are. It sounds like you love to water them often? "Do I need rooting hormone?" I agree with J, no hormone needed. In the case of wanting a more full pot like this, I would stick any cuttings in the pot with the mama plant, aimed in the other direction slightly. Just use a knife to make a slit & slip the end that was attached to the mama plant in there, doesn't seem to matter how far, as long as at least most of the lowest section is under the surface. "Perhaps last time I used too much water." Probably. A *succulent* cutting with no roots can't absorb water, it can only rot. When taking the cuttings, let them sit in the air overnight for the cut part to heal/seal. This should prevent fungus/bacteria from being able to 'get in,' prevents further loss of moisture, and definitely notifies that piece of plant that it needs to grow some roots "in search of moisture, not because it is adjacently present." When placed within the roots of an already-growing plant, I have much better luck with propagating (outside of the realm of the glass of water you mentioned, which does work well for many non-succulent, leafy plants.) The mama plant prevents the soil from staying too moist around the cutting even while watering as usual. This is the only way I've had luck with Begonia cuttings in particular. I can't NOT hover over a pot with nothing but cuttings either. That usually results in loving them to death as you described. I successfully forget about those tucked under mama plants and haven't had any TC cuttings fail this way, in pots with other TC's and completely different plants that 'need' something leaning out at the bottom in my strange plan to make every pot a mini tropical jungle. Knowing whether cuttings require drying (callousing) and which should go immediately in water/moist soil is the 1st step to success, glad you asked. The one pot of TC cuttings I tried without any existing-roots plants in the pot was this one. Having seen pics of people doing them this way, and knowing how I hover over a pot of cuttings, I chose to lay them mostly flat on the surface. This worked well & is a blooming plant around here somewhere. I lost track of which was...

I'll be thinking of you all tomorrow. Our T-day is going to be on Friday this year, because of various travel schedules, not to mention the several people who wanted to have dinner at their in-laws AND wanted to have dinner at DD's. I'm actually pleased ~~ for once, I won't be rushing home from work to start the prep for all the veggie dishes. Five vegs this year: cream-cheese/chili corn, harvard beets, gingered carrots & pears, snap peas (a change from the spinach squares), and a broccoli/cauliflower dish that has a nutmeg/cheddar sauce. Tried this last year and it was a success. 1 big bag of baby carrots, thoroughly rinsed, and the fat ones cut in half lengthwise. Dump in big pot of lightly salted boiling water, let boil for 10 minutes. While the carrots are cooking, open and drain a can of sliced pears -- this year, I'll have to slice halves, no pre-sliced in stock at the store. Put about ½ cup of pear jelly [or pear jam or apple jelly] in a small bowl and nuke just until warm and mostly melted. Stir ½ teaspoon ground ginger OR 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger into the melted jelly. Taste jelly and add more ginger if needed (you should be able to clearly taste the ginger). Depending on how many carrots, you may need to double the gingered jelly. Drain the carrots and dump into a large bowl. Pour the gingered jelly over and stir until all carrots are coated. Fold in the pear slices. For the dinner, it does very well on a warming tray, not going mushy. Have a good day, and may all your Thanksgiving dishes be wonderful.

Every day begins with the thought of "What to do first?" Yes, still cutting back and shredding and mulching and sowing and, and, and...this is what spring time is all about, isn't it? I'm still trying to catch up with things that were neglected last year..the romneyas hadn't been cut back in two-three years, haven't finished cutting back the salvia leucanthas, the salvia Anthony Parkers, clearing out areas for new plantings. Getting first flowers on the salvia clevelandii, echium fastuosum, cistus skanbergii, some of the fall-winter blooming salvias are still blooming, spring ones have started and I have one large liquidamber that never did lose it's leaves and the leaves are now a black-burgundy in color. Everything is in lush full growth and looking healthier than in years past...glorious rain!

I'm so happy you're back with us and I'm looking forward to lots of photos. Things look great in your yard. Looks like all this rain is doing your plants good. After such an early season last year it feels like things are late here, but really they're probably on schedule. Have you noticed more slugs this year? I have and they are making a mess of my daylilies, but otherwise things are extremely green and lush. Celeste