If so, please tell me how?
If a plant flowers in the spring, is it best to take cuttings in the fall, and vice-versa? Is it best to cut older, woodier growth, or newer (1st-year) soft & pliable stems? Can you root in plain water or is it best to use a moist substrate - and if so, what?
Perhaps my questions are too general, though. Do the best processes change from species to species? If that’s the case, I’m interested in propogating **rosemary **and **flowering quince **(from my MILs garden) and **flowering lantana *and bay laurel (from mine, so I can haz moar). Oh, and a friend has that cool bi-colored sageand has offered to let me take some cuttings, but I’ve never successfully rooted sage in the past.
Huh, looking for that picture gave me the plant’s name, though: “Hot Lips” salvia.
- Said attempts consisted of sticking some 1st-year stems in water. Works for coleus and mint, not so much for sage. Then again, coleus and mint put out roots if you glance at them briefly.
Aw, c’mon. 
Nobody has any tips?
One little bumpety-bump and then I’ll leave this one alone.
I did some rosemary cuttings just the a couple of weeks ago. Can’t say anything about the others. I cut a bit off (maybe 3-4 inches), trimmed a few leaves off the bottom, wet the end and dip it into rooting powder and then stick it into some potting soil. I’ve kept the soil moist since then. They root just fine. That may not be the fastest or most efficient way but it has worked the few times I’ve done it.
Don’t tell me it’s hard to root rosemary, I’ll start failing.
I’m no help. I tried to propagate a lilac cutting once, and got what I believe horticulturalists refer to as a “stick”.
Would be interested in knowing if anyone else has tips on doing it right, though. Have you checked in the 2012 Gardening Thread?
Transplanting this to GQ, since it wasn’t getting too many responses there. I’ve edited the title, which was originally “Gardeners: are you good at rooting cuttings from woody shrubs?”
Don’t cut the plant. Just bend a branch and bury it at a midpoint (with the end sticking out). Apply rooting hormone to the buried part. Once established, the new plant can be transplanted. This technique has a name, but I have forgotten it.
It really is highly dependent on the kind of plant and the season when you’re trying to root cuttings from woody shrubs.
Salvias generally root pretty well from soft cuttings during active growth and warm weather. I place cuttings in moist soil either in a pot covered with a plastic bag or a high-top plastic humidity dome that fits over a standard plastic flat.
There are rooting hormone preparations sold especially for woody plants, if you need to root a semi-woody or woody stem.
I’ve always had good luck with “air layering”. I make a diagonal cut halfway through the stem and apply some rooting hormone. Wet moss is clumped onto the area and wrapped snuggishly with saran wrap. Keep the moss moist until roots emerge.
Does this cause mold problems growing on the soil?