There is a lavender plant by our back step that we paid for once, in 2023. There are now six of it. They are in pots, along a path, and in two neighbors' yards, and every one of them came off the original with a pair of scissors and a plastic bag.
Taking cuttings is the closest thing gardening has to getting something for nothing, and late summer is the best moment of the year for it. The new growth on your shrubs and herbs has had all season to firm up but has not gone fully woody yet, which is exactly the stage that roots most willingly. Gardeners call it semi-ripe. You can find it on almost anything right now.
What semi-ripe means, in the hand
Take a stem that grew this year and bend it. If it flops over limply, it is too soft and will rot before it roots. If it snaps like a twig, it is too old. What you want is firm at the base and still bendy at the tip, the stage in between. Once you have felt the right one you will recognize it instantly on every plant afterward.
Plants that root easily right now
Start with these if you have not done it before. They are forgiving and they root fast enough that you know within a month or so whether it worked.
- Lavender and rosemary. The classics. Four to six inch tips off non-flowering stems.
- Salvia and penstemon. Quick, and the easiest way to multiply a variety you love.
- Hydrangea. Roots in about four to six weeks from a non-flowering shoot, and one plant can give you plenty.
- Thyme, oregano, sage, and mint. Herbs are the gentlest introduction. Mint will root in a glass of water on the windowsill and needs no technique at all.
- Shrubby evergreens like box, holly, and jasmine, though these take months rather than weeks, so plant them and forget them.
One honest note. If a plant tag carries a patent number, usually printed as PP followed by digits or as PPAF, that variety is protected and propagating it is not permitted. This almost never applies to the plain garden staples above. It does often apply to a fancy named hydrangea or coneflower from a big-box shelf, so it is worth a glance at the tag before you multiply something forty times.
The method
- Cut in the morning, while the plant is full of water. Take more cuttings than you need. Some will fail and that is normal.
- Take four to six inches from a healthy stem with no flowers on it. Flowers are a distraction the cutting cannot afford.
- Trim just below a leaf joint. That node is where the roots come out. A cutting trimmed halfway between joints usually just sits there.
- Strip the lower leaves off the bottom half. Leave two or three at the top, and if they are big, cut them in half across. Fewer leaves means less water lost while there are no roots to replace it.
- Rooting hormone if you have it, a dip of the cut end in the powder or gel. It is not required for herbs. It noticeably helps woody things like hydrangea.
- Into a gritty mix, not rich potting soil. Half potting mix and half perlite or coarse sand is right. Rich compost holds too much water and cuttings rot in it.
- Water once, then cover. A clear plastic bag over the pot, propped up with a couple of sticks so it does not touch the leaves, holds the humidity. Skip this for lavender and rosemary, which prefer air and sulk under plastic.
- Bright shade, never direct sun. A windowsill out of the sun or a shaded spot outdoors. Keep the mix just damp, never soggy.
How to tell it worked
Give it four to six weeks for herbs and soft stems, longer for shrubs. The first sign is new growth at the tip, which means roots are feeding it. A very gentle tug is the other test. If the cutting resists, it has anchored. If it lifts out, put it back and wait, and resist doing this every day, which is the main way beginners kill perfectly good cuttings.
Getting them through winter
A rooted cutting taken now is still a small thing in November, and small things are the ones that do not make it through a cold snap. Keep them in pots the first winter, somewhere sheltered. An unheated garage, a cold frame, a porch against the house wall. Water sparingly, since they are barely growing. Plant them out in spring once the roots have filled the pot, and by next summer you will have a real plant.
The part you cannot see
The whole business runs on something happening underground where you have no way to watch it. You put a stem in a pot, nothing appears to happen for a month, and the entire time there is work going on out of sight. That is the idea our second book is built on, in which a tiny roly-poly named Pip does the most important job in the garden and nobody notices, because it happens underneath. You can find it here. The ebook of our first book, Moss Finds His Spot, is free when you join our list if you would like one for the shelf. Go take more cuttings than you need. That is the only real rule.