Cuttings of Irish Moss

My grandma's kitchen window always had little jars and pots with delicate green vines overflowing from them. The bright green stems would reach toward the western sunlight on the other side of the glass. Metal butterflies bejeweled with colored glass would appear to hover in the lush mini-forest in the window sill above the sink. It was something that captured my imagination and wonder as a kid, and made me first fall in love with what I now know to be Baby's Tears (aka Irish Moss, Corsican Carpet, etc). A couple years ago, my mom bought me a plant and since then I've been doing cuttings and transplanting to new pots. The picture on the right started as about four cuttings of Baby's Tears stems, and has since taken over the planter.  

It's pretty simple:

1) Take three or so small cuttings from your existing plant (my mom bought my original plant online).

2) Place the cuttings in a glass of water, making sure that the cut end is submerged. Leave them to soak for about a day. 

3) Choose a planter, pot, jar, old coffee mug, whatever you like. Fill it with potting soil (I had leftover garden soil from my urban pail garden, so I used that instead). Add water until the soil is completely saturated. 

4) After the cuttings are done soaking, push the cut ends into the saturated soil and gently press soil around the base of each cutting. Keep the soil moist and be patient. =] After a couple days, the cuttings will stop being limp and will be growing toward the light. They also spring back a bit when touched. 

 5) The little plants like bright to filtered light and very moist soil. They do well at room temperature and cooler. By my window this winter it's probably about 60 degrees, and they're doing happily!

One thing I have yet to learn is how to "pinch" them so they grow in a mounded shape and cover the soil more thickly. That and finding some wire-and-glass butterflies to inhabit these plants. May be my next project.!