Propagate These 5 Houseplants Now for Free – They’ll Make Perfect Homegrown Gifts for the Holidays

You better believe it; it's just four months until the Christmas holiday season, and now is the perfect window for propagating houseplants. They really do make great (and free!) green gifts – guaranteed to be appreciated by friends and family. And so much more beautiful than another scented candle or novelty sweater.

Propagating houseplants is much simpler than you might imagine. If you've not tried it before, you're in for a treat. Cuttings, offsets, and even leaf tips of your favorite indoor plants can be transformed easily and quickly into mini plants ready for gifting by the end of December. Add a carefully selected pot, a pretty label, and a gift tag, and you have the perfect package for a green-leaning friend, neighbor, or relative.

Some of the easiest houseplants to grow from cuttings include fountain-like spider plants, lush, trailing pothos, delicate string of pearls and super-cute pilea. I'll guide you through the methods, compost, and care that will take you from novice to seasoned cuttings grower. First up, the compost – The Sill's premium potting mix is a great one for most houseplants.

1. Spider Plant (Chlorophytum)

Plain, lush green or variegated, the spider plant is one of our best-loved indoor plants, and spider plant care couldn't be simpler. It's also one of the easiest indoor plants to propagate.

In summer it sends out a cascade of arching stems that each produce their own plantlets at the tip: mini versions of the parent plant just waiting for their own pot to grow.

The baby plants are actually called spiderettes or pups (how cute is that?) and all they need to make new plants is to be snipped off with a pair of small clean, sharp pruners like these from Wayfair, and popped into water. In fact, we have a guide to the essential houseplant care kit, which will show you everything you need for the job.

To propagate spider plants, use a shallow glass or jar and make sure that just the base of each pup is submerged. This way the leaves won't rot. Pop the jar in a bright spot out of direct sunlight and refresh the water every few days.

Once the roots are 2-3in (6-8cm) long, transfer the pups to small pots of well-drained potting compost and grow them on, watering lightly until established, then reducing your watering. It really couldn't be simpler.

Top Tip: If your plant hasn't produced any pups this year but it's a decent size, ease it out of its pot and gently tease away the different plant sections. Repot the new pieces in fresh compost and give them a little water.

2. Pothos (Epipremnum)

Pothos is a lush trailing plant that I grow in macramé plant hangers at home – you can buy macramé plant hangers at Amazon. The long stems seem to go on and on, creating abundant veils of greenery with very little in the way of traditional pothos care or attention (I admit, I do tend to neglect my houseplants).

To propagate pothos, snip off one or two long, healthy stems just below a leaf node (the little bumps where new roots will grow), then snip that stem into 8in (20cm) sections and place in a bowl or wide glass of water (stems in, leaves out of the water). Leave this in a warm, light place.

Change the water every week and in a few weeks you'll see roots. Once these are a decent size, say 2in (5cm), transfer to pots of compost – for a fuller, bushier look plant three per pot – and grow them on.

Good to know: If you have philodendron plants, the propagation method is exactly the same.

3. Chinese Money Plant (Pilea)

I love Chinese money plant. With its sprays of little round leaves, each with a central pale dot, it's one of the cutest houseplants there is. How to grow Chinese money plant? Well, it's almost foolproof. So more is most definitely more with Pilea and I'm all for propagating this little beauty.

You can propagate money plants for free in two ways. The first is to find baby pups at the base of mature plants and cut them out (a pair of Fiskars Detailer Snips from Amazon are really useful here).

Then you either submerge the stems in water or plant them directly into small pots of well-drained potting compost (keep the compost moist, of course). The pups are pretty small so this can be fiddly – I find a set of succulent tweezers from Amazon helpful here for backfilling the compost.

Bonus method: This is a great solution if your plants have become a bit leggy. You cut off the tops of those leggy stems, remove the lower leaves, then root the stem in a jar of water (just like before, with spider plants), before potting them up. If you have a jar with a narrow opening, that will help to keep the leaves above the water line.

4. String of Pearls (Senecio)

Stem cuttings are the best and easiest way to make new string of pearls plants for free. Your friends will love the sweet little plants, their long, trailing stems decked with glossy green buttons from root to tip. They're deservedly popular and learning how to look after string of pearls is a synch.

But back to string of pearls propagation. Using sharp disinfected snips, cut 3-6in (8-16cm) stems from your plants, then carefully pull off the bottom three or four pearls to expose the nodes.

Pop the ends of the stems into pots filled with moist succulent or cactus compost (string of pearls is a succulent, so it needs a particularly sharp-draining growing medium – try Hoffman Cactus & Succulent Soil Mix from Amazon), three or four to a pot to get nice bushy pots, and leave in a bright spot out of direct sunlight.

Every day or two mist the plants lightly – a simple spray bottle like this one from Amazon will do the trick – and you should see roots making their way down into the soil in around six weeks.

5. Snake Plant (Dracaena)

Propagating snake plants is a little different, as you have to take pieces of the leaf and encourage these to produce roots. It's a simple process, however, and you'll need a large jar of water to begin with.

First choose a healthy leaf from your snake plant (expert tips for healthy snake plants include bright light and low watering), then use a pair of sharp pruners to cut it near the base making an inverted V cut. Next, cut the leaf down into 4in (10cm) pieces, again using the inverted V cut and remembering to keep the sections of leaf the right way up.

Pop the leaf sections into your jar of water, add a a few drops of Root Drops from Amazon and be patient. The wait is a little longer here – it'll be around three months until you have roots big enough to pot them up.

Do this into light, sharply draining houseplant compost, three sections to a pot. Water them in well, letting the pots drain, then keep watering to a minimum after that.

Time To Get Festive

When you've got your newly propagated houseplants all ready to go, you'll want to make them look the business, and there are a few little additions that will do just that.

First off, some pretty plant labels and a lovely pot – The Sill has a great selection. Make sure the pot is the right size – your plastic pot should fit snugly inside with all the plastic hidden beneath the rim.

Then gift wrap, either neutral (Shinok paper roll from Amazon will wrap plenty of pots) or these Botanical Gift Bags from Amazon are fun, as is this Potted Plant gift Wrap, also from Amazon. And I love tying things together with simple jute string, although a few lengths of something sparkly look fabulous too.

A simple but classy gift tag design like this one from Amazon will finish the whole package off perfectly.

I adore receiving home-grown or homemade gifts. It's personal, and so thoughtful. The gift of a houseplant, carefully propagated and packaged is one any green-loving friend or relative will cherish for years to come.

My advice is to make a date with yourself in the diary, stock up on houseplant compost and your essential houseplant care kit, then enjoy a few hours of snipping and potting. You'll have armfuls of free gifts come December.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?