Updated 11/04/25
If money grew on trees then we gardeners would live like kings. It doesn’t, unfortunately, but there are many brilliant ways to get the garden you want without shelling out huge sums, and taking cuttings is one of them.
Taking cuttings from your current plants is a superb way to increase your garden stock for no cost at all. It’s a brilliant way to boost your garden plants. Additionally, pruning and neatening up your garden as you go.
And you don’t need any special equipment – it’s cheap, easy and effective. And you could even share your cuttings with friends and family, to help them save on gardening costs too.
Before you start, make sure you know what type of plant you’re working with.
Hardwoods are generally flowering plants such as rose bushes, and softwoods are more often evergreen shrubs with softer branches. Also, in summer, you can take cuttings from tender perennials and shrubs to propagate them. Then in autumn and early winter, you can add hardwood cuttings to your bounty. By next year, you’ll have loads of extra plants, at very little cost.
You Will Need:
• Various sized pots and containers for your new plants
• Compost
• Coarse Horticultural Grit
• Secateurs
• Gardening gloves
• Hormone rooting powder or liquid
• Propagator (Or small wooden sticks and plastic bags)
The technique for taking cuttings varies slightly, depending on whether you are taking a cutting from a more tender perennial, a larger shrub, or a hardwood plant. To help you, I’ve written a quick and simple guide for each:
Tender Perennials
These are best taken in late summer, or early autumn. Garden favourites like fuchsias, petunias, salvias, verbenas, penstemons, pelargoniums, chrysanthemums and osteospermums all root quickly and easily.
Step One
First, prepare the pots or containers that the cuttings will go into. You need a gritty compost, so add coarse horticultural grit to multi-purpose compost. To clarify, the grit helps with drainage, which will ensure your cuttings won’t rot.
Step Two
Then, cut the stem with a sharp pair of secateurs just below a leaf joint to make a cutting between 5cm and 10cm long.
Step Three
Next, strip off the leaves from the lower stem, leaving just one or two pairs on the top. Dip the end in hormone rooting power or liquid and insert it into the new pot, a few centimetres deep.
Step Four
Gently firm in the compost and water really well. Then, place the pots in a propagator, or push wooden stirring sticks into the soil around the cutting and cover with a plastic bag or hotel shower cap. (Pelargoniums don’t need a propagator).
Step Five
Finally, place somewhere light but not in direct sunlight and ventilate a couple of times a week.
Tip:
Ultimately, for best results, choose healthy young growth that hasn’t flowered this year.
After six to ten weeks, when your cuttings have rooted, pot them on to larger containers. Overwinter them in the greenhouse or conservatory, and harden off in spring ready for planting out.
Shrubs
Most deciduous shrubs such as hydrangea and philadelphus are happy for you to take cuttings.
Step One
Prepare the pots as before. Take a cutting 7 to 10 cm long from a strong stem that hasn’t flowered this year. Cut just below a leaf joint and strip off all the leaves except the top pair.
Step Two
Next, dip the end in the hormone rooting powder or liquid and pot up as for tender perennials.
Step Three
Then, place in a propagator or cover as before and keep out of direct sunlight as they root. Remember to make sure that your cutting is not touching your plastic bag or the sides of the propagator at all.
Rosemary and Lavender
These two shrubs can be hard to root, so you can propagate them from heel cuttings.
First, choose a side shoot that is growing from the main stem, roughly 10 to 15cm long. However, instead of cutting, carefully tear it off, making sure it retains a small sliver of bark from the main stem, known as a ‘heel’.
Then, dip this in rooting hormone and treat as before.
Hardwood
These are best taken from September to mid-winter, just after leaf fall. Good candidates include roses, cornus, jasmine, deutzia, buddleja, weigela, forsythia and honeysuckle, plus fruit bushes like fig, blackberry and gooseberry and grape vines.
Step One
Firstly, choose stems from this year’s growth that have become woody and fairly inflexible. They should be about as thick as a pencil. Use sharp secateurs to remove the soft growth at the tip. Cut stems just below a bud, around 15 to 30cm long.
Step Two
Secondly, dip the end in hormone rooting powder and insert 12 – 15cm deep into a pot of gritty compost.
Step Three
Finally, move to a coldframe or unheated greenhouse and keep well-watered. Or you can plant directly into a bed – prepare the soil by digging over and adding organic material. Push your spade in and wiggle it about to create a trench for the cuttings. Allow 10 to 15cm between cuttings and water in well.
Finally, hardwood cuttings should be ready to plant out the following autumn.
For more great gardening advice, make sure you head to my YouTube Channel. Make sure you’re subscribed with notifications on so you don’t miss any of my new videos.
Frequently Asked Questions
1 – What’s the best time to take plant cuttings?
Take tender perennial cuttings in summer, shrub cuttings in late summer. And hardwood cuttings should be taken from autumn to mid-winter.
2 – What equipment do I need for taking cuttings?
You’ll need sharp secateurs, pots, gritty compost, rooting hormone, and a propagator or plastic covering for humidity.
3 – How do I prepare cuttings for rooting?
First, cut below a leaf joint. Then strip lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone, and insert into gritty compost.
4 – Why use horticultural grit in compost for cuttings
Grit improves drainage and helps prevent rotting. Therefore, it’s ideal for rooting tender perennials and shrub cuttings.
5 – How deep should I plant hardwood cuttings?
Insert cuttings 12–15cm deep into gritty compost or directly into prepared garden beds. Water well after planting.
David Domoney is a Chartered Horticulturalist, Broadcaster, and Author. David has worked with a number of the UK’s leading garden retailers as a plant buyer and strategic consultant. With more than 30 years experience, in horticulture, David is as passionate about plants now as he was when he bought his first plant at a village fete.
Very useful information
Thankyou
How to take cuttings from mature climbing Hydragea?
Hi th
I can find lots of information on taking cuttings but nothing much on when to plant them out in my garden (Gloucestershire). I have cuttings of Perennials such as Verbena Bonariensis, Salvia Hot Lips, Salvia Amistad, Valerian and Hydrangeas and Clematis, all rooting now in an unheated potting shed. However we are going to be away from home from January to April so I want to find out if I can a) harden them off now and plant them out before the first frosts or b) find out how to help them survive outside in pots (I do have a cold frame) from mid January to mid April (if this is even possible?) Help! I put a lot of effort into the cuttings and don’t want to lose them???? Thank you in advance if you can help.