apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I agree. I am using the same method to add green and lively plants around my home.

I put mint cuttings in old bottles and put them around the apartment in clusters. The look nice, are easy to grow and SMELL SO GOOD.

This is definitely something that doesn't cost much. I do it all the time. It is amazing how a little bit of a green cutting can add to a place/room.

I've never done this, so these may be dumb questions, but will the plants continue to grow this way, or eventually die? Does the water need to have any nutrients added to it?

good idea, thanks for sharing.

this will not work with every plant.

not every plant will root via cuttings, and some will rot in the standing water.

@akay: They'll live in water for a surprisingly long time as long as you change out the water regularly (and this may vary depending on the plant). But you should eventually pot the cuttings.

"akay" - those are actually good questions. I just started doing this about a year ago. I've chosen clippings at random and they look good so far. Spider plants for example work really well.
I have thought about adding nutrients to the water but I don't want to end up with green water specially with clear glass containers.

I have done this before to expand my quantity of plants. Personally I have never liked the look of the roots exposed in the water, so I've always potted the plants as soon as they had some good roots going.

I have some plants (mostly vines) that have been in their water vases for years (8yrs is the oldest). The water will get murky after a while but you can gently take the plant out and put it in another bowl or pot of water (room temp is best, to not shock the roots) clean out the container and put in fresh water. I also have washed the roots and trimmed them back (so they don't get packed in) and the plant has been very happy. Spider plants and other vine plants work great. But some won't be as happy, if the leaves turn or the roots start to turn brown you know that it's not going to live much longer in the water.

Pothos work really well for this. For years, I'd cut off the leggy stems, trim them down and root them in water for a month or so, then put them back in with the original plant when I repotted it. It finally got so ginormous that I had to break it into smaller plants so I could lift them. I gave them as thank you's to 3 people in my office who volunteered to take over my work while I was on vacation for a week.