As hard as it is to kill, I did actually lose my Malabar spinach plants and had a heck of a time to get some growing from the seeds I saved.
I planted seeds last fall and they did not sprout until December. When the 5 tiny plants looked like they were just about to have a growth spurt in March I made the mistake of putting them in an AeroGarden together with other plants and the standard nutes. They didn't like the nutes! All but one croaked and it was on the verge. When and if I get this plant back to its former glory, I will take great care to never, ever lose it again!
Three road trips later it is still alive and has gotten big enough for me to take 2 cuttings, both of which rooted quite readily in water. This is something I have not quite figured out about plants. Sometimes they root right away and other times they take a very long time.
Mint is a case in point. Sometimes known as the thug of gardens, I have found mint to be rather finicky at times. I am doing some experiments with 2 different kinds of spearmint, the one I believe to be Lebanese and the similarly pungent Kentucky Colonel which I ordered live in order to do a comparison.
With both of these I have had leaf cuttings just up and die, but was able to save them by cloning from the roots. But then as soon as the new babies were big enough to take leaf cuttings, the new leaf cuttings rooted in 4 or 5 days, just like they are supposed to.
I've found that if I cut back too far on the stems they may root, but some of them turn brown and lose their leaves. Below is a jar of stem cuttings that I started July 21, and although a lot of the top leaves have turned brown and fallen off, little runners are leafing out under water. When I took some of these runners out of the water and cleaned them up and put them in an AeroGarden, they turned into very nice little plants.
Soon I will have a jungle again.
The photo below, taken in July, shows a jungle in training. This is one of three groupings as they looked after they recovered from one road trip and were about to be dragged along on another one. Like it or not, they have to travel with me, as they would certainly all be dead as doornails if I left them home alone.
At the time I took this photo I was harvesting enough mint daily to provide all of my culinary needs. I use this mint in flatbread, salads, and to garnish beverages. I also keep fresh leaves on ice in a diffuser in the refrigerator in order to always have mint water on tap to drink as is or add to other beverages. Need I say "I love this mint!?"