A Jar Of Water Is All You Need To Propagate This Striking Houseplant

When treated well, houseplants can stick with you for decades. They'll outlast relationships, move with you from house to house, and oxygen-producing plants add clean air to your house, too. If you have a houseplant that you are particularly attached to, like the zebra plant (Aphelandra squarrosa), you can prolong the plant's life, in a sense, by propagating a cutting from the host plant. While this might sound intimidating, all you need is a jar of water to grow roots from plant cuttings. The end result? You'll have another generation of the zebra plant to either gift to a friend or keep for yourself.

The zebra plant — not to be confused with the Haworthiopsis fasciata or Calathea zebrina, which also are referred to as zebra plants — is visually stunning up close or from afar, with light veins starkly contrasting glossy dark green foliage. Its texture gives the narrow leaves a slightly twisted, puckered appearance. In the wild, this plant is grown as a shrub, but typically stays under a foot tall as a houseplant. If you keep the zebra plant happy, it may produce bright yellow bracts, which look like flowers but are actually leaves. This is similar to other plants with flowers that lack petals, like dogwoods or poinsettias.

Zebra plant cuttings can be propagated in either soil or water, but growing them in water is the easier of the two — and you get a clear view as roots emerge. The general instructions to propagate cuttings applies to a zebra plant, too. First, choose a healthy firm stem that is at least 4 to 6 inches long and has at least two sets of leaves. Snip the stem at a 45-degree angle right below a node, the little bumps that are evenly spaced along the stem. This is where leaves grow and — in the case of the cutting — where new roots will form. If you cut the stem too far below the node, the excess piece will get soggy and limp in the water, and you'll end up tossing it. 

Propagations can typically produce roots without any assistance, but dipping the bottom of the stem into a rooting hormone can boost the cutting's growth.Remove leaves that sit below the water level; otherwise, the foliage will rot and muddy up the water. Keep the top leaves intact since the cutting will need them to direct energy into growing new roots. If you have more than one cutting, you can group them into the same jar of water or vase. You also can line up individual cuttings in bottles for a cute shelf or windowsill decoration. Just make sure they get bright, indirect light — not direct sunlight, which can burn the plants.

In the days that follow, monitor the containers and replace the water as needed. New roots typically take about three or four weeks to appear. Once they're about 1 to 2 inches long, transfer them to a small pot of soil.