I guess I spoke too soon. While I would have bet money that my cuttings were dead they perked up after a couple days.

it can be helpful when you go out to the garden, take a slightly longer cutting than you need. then re-cut the stem in a bowl of water so the scisors/knife doesnt force air bubbles up into the xylem tissue. (trick works well for cut flowers as well) also a humidity dome of some sort (a lot of people use upside down ziplock bags) can help prevent to much moisture loss from the leaves and help curb the wited look. sounds like you are on the right track though. happy propagating.

In case anyone else stumbles on this thread... I also took a bunch of cuttings of my New Guinea Impatiens before this year's first frost. I put them straight in water and they were fine for a couple of days. But then all but one of the 10 steams totally wilted and most of the leaves basically dried up!

I found this thread and even though it had already been longer than the 4 days for Leslie's resurrection, I decided to give it more time. Well over a week later and the few non-crispy leaves were perking up! They are *all* still alive and looking good. Patience pays. Not if I can get them through the Winter.