Plants for free

This is the time of year to multiply the number of plants you have for free. Amongst others, now is the time to take Phygelia, hebe, and as pictured above penstomen cuttings.

For the penstemon, I take this years shoots that have not flowered and take them just below a pair of leaves, giving a cutting about 4" long. I then strip off most of the leaves leaving just a couple of pairs at the very tip. Any more than this and the cutting may well die as it will not be able to support them as it has no root system. The cuttings are then potted around the edge of a 6" pot, well watered and covered with a clear plastic bag to keep in the moisure.

My pots are kept on a non sunny windowsill and kept moist. When rooted, pot them on individually and keep them in a cold frame or cold greenhouse till the spring when they can be planted out.

A really good book is "The propogators handbook" by Peter Thompson (ISBN 0-7153-0426-7). it give ayou all the information needed to propogate most plants by cutting, division, seed or any other means that you can think of.