‘Gardens look beautiful’ with ‘cheap’ supermarket item

A gardener has shared how supermarket shoppers can use a bouquet of flowers to make their garden look beautiful. The ‘fun’ hack involves using store-bought flowers to grow a rose garden ‘for free’. The recommendation was shared on TikTok by @Joesgarden.

With over 1.5 million followers on the platform, Joe is known for sharing gardening tips for people keen to grow their own fruit and vegetables. But the gardener turned his attention to flowers in one of his popular videos.

Joe asked viewers: “Did you know you can use your bouquet of roses to grow even more flowers completely for free? There are so many different ways I’ve been growing free roses at home, but this has to be the most fun.”

He then shared his tried-and-tested method. The gardener explained: “Simply pick up a cheap bouquet of roses and remove all the flowers.

“Then just snip off the bottom of the stem and make a 45-degree cut above one of the leaf nodes to create a six-inch cutting. Now this is optional, but I like to scrape the bottom of the stem a little bit before poking all the cuttings a few inches deep into a quality compost.”

Continuing his instructions, Joe said: “Give your cuttings a really good water and just pop them out into the garden. After three to four weeks, roots will start to appear. And when your cuttings begin to develop these new little shoots, it’s time to plant them out.

“Your new baby roses can either be planted out in large containers or directly into the garden, where it’s possible they’ll flower in their first year, but if they don’t, don’t worry, they’re a perennial, so they’ll come back year after year, giving you bigger and better blooms each time they do.”

In his caption, Joe acknowledged that some gardeners might prefer a different method, but he enjoyed his time. “Is this the absolute best way to plant roses, no probably not, but is it one of the most fun and rewarding, yes I believe so,” he wrote.

The video delighted social media users. Joe’s post racked up over 400,000 views and more than 35,000 likes. Replying to the post, a viewer shared: “I did this for my sister with the first flowers her boyfriend gave her. Fast forward over a decade, they are married, and that rose is still growing in their garden.”

Another comment said: “I’ve done this for years, I’ve now got over 20 free roses in my garden.” A similar reply read: “I used to take home the 5p reduced bunches when I finished work…my mum still has some in the garden (from 10 years ago!)” Someone else wrote: “Amazing thank you for sharing will try this.”