Power Propagators at McLaughlin

SOUTH PARIS — Learning how to propagate plants is a skill gardeners can use to improve their gardens. At the McLaughlin Garden in South Paris chief horticulturist Kristin Perry teaches volunteers how plants can be increased to plant elsewhere. Dividing plants also makes them bloom better.

The Power Propagator program is designed to teach volunteers important skills while at the same time giving participants the satisfaction of knowing that they have helped to maintain this historic public garden.

Perry teaches when and how to divide plants, how to replant the divisions, how to choose the right soil mix when plants are to be grown in pots, and how to be successful growing the plant in other places.

Sometimes participants leave with divisions from Bernard McLaughlin’s original collection.

Gardening can be hard work, but the propagator program can allow individuals with physical limitations to work at a table in the barn potting up plants. In addition to learning about gardening, participants report that they have made new friends and enjoyed the volunteer opportunity.

Power Propagators is scheduled monthly on Tuesday afternoons: May 15, June 5, July 17, August 7 and September 11 from 2 – 4 p.m. Volunteers meet in the back corner of the barn.