Taking softwood cuttings

It’s an easy way to make lots more plants, says Ruth

- Ruth Hayes

PERENNIALS can be expensive to buy and, following the lockdown, sporadically in short supply as everyone rushes to the garden centre.

Luckily, it’s really easy to propagate your own, giving you lots of healthy new plants for free. The method we use at this time of year is softwood cuttings – using the fresh, healthy, non-flowering growth to make clones of the original.

Plants I have had success with include pelargoniums, penstemons, cistus and roses, but you can also try the method with osteospermums, fuchsias, hydrangeas and buddleja.