Hi, I don't have any helpful advice but i do have a few ?'s. I would like to know how you are doing this, putting them in water, in wet soil? I'm curious. Also, are you growing the main plant from seed and then making several plants from the one? Or buying the plants and dividing them? Just curious, hope you don' mind a few ?'s.

I am doing this from plants that I have grown from seeds in past years plus from plants that I am buying. I am actually dividing the plants I am buying and taking a few cuttings just for curoisity. I root them in potting soil. The plants that I have done so far (listed above now including oenthera and a few butterweed)I have cut off the very tip of the plant bud (softwood)(cutting off flower head to promote root growth), dipped it in water, dipped it in rootone, and stuck them in prewet potting soil. Place them in a cool shady place for a while and keep them moist. Gradually accustome to more light. It takes usually between 1 week and 4 weeks. If you see the plant putting out new growth you know it is rooting. Also, had a failure with jacobs ladder but kinda expected that too. Its kinda of a take a chance method i guess. The things that root best seem to be those with somewhat coarse stems that have leaves close together. That way you strip the lower leaves before you dip the rootone and it gives it a place to root -- just like pinching back a tall tomato plant to bury it deeper.

Hope this makes sense and I dont sound like a silly goober!

Almost all perennials will root using your methods. Just because the cutting is putting out new growth does NOT indicate in many cases, that roots have grown and/or are providing nutrients. Al

When working nights for many years I took courses in propagation at the university and did propagation experiments as a hobby.

Some few generalizations, not necessarily applicable in some cases, from my experiments:

I found that treating the cutting in some way to sterilize it as with a dilute bleach or the chemicals in rooting compound to be helpful.

I found rooting in some medium rather than just water was almost always better. My favorite medium was sterile 'sharp' sand.

My best luck with perennials was to take cuttings in mid-winter and root them in a warm dark place. This even work best for me for things like willow and poplar which root well under many circumstances.

And remember, unless you want to go in vitro with the hormones and all that, your cutting needs nodes that will root and shoot.

It is really fun as clbrickhouse said; with no experience I managed to root butterfly bush, Hydrangea, weigela garden phlox and roses using clbrickhouse method.
I have found butterfly bush, Hydrangea and weigela to be the easiest.
I will try the same method with hardy gerenium and Coreopsis and see how long they will take to root.

I root stem cuttings of my favorite Dahlias. I start some from seeds but the flowers are always different so to increase a certain color I will take 8 inch stem cuttings, remove the flowers (if any) and lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone and place in sterile potting mix. I try to do this during the most humid part of summer so that I don't have to keep things moist manually. It can take some time for them to make a tuber so I sometimes overwinter them indoors.

right now i have cuttings of Russian sage, lavender, roses and others. I have them potted and uncovered in my 6x8 GH. They are misted everyday for 3 hrs.

Just curious, belleville_rose_gr, you write that you are doing Russian sage now. Is yours in bloom now?

Textbooks and professors alway taught that bloom auxins and root auxins were not particularly compatible. I know persons do root blooming plants. I am just curious.

My grandmother taught me this little trick for propagation and it has served me well over the years. Take a wide but short clay pot and plug the drainage hole. Then take a smaller clay pot and plug the drainage hole. Place the smaller pot in the center of the larger pot Fill the space between the 2 pots with course sand. Saturate the sand. Add your cuttings and then fill the smaller inner pot with water. Water will be drawn from the smaller pot into the sand to keep the cuttings moist but not soggy. Then just fill the smaller pot as it empties. This is especially successful with roses.

my russian sage is blooming now but I made cuttings before

My non-gardening neighbor decided to try propagating Lobelia cardinalis by sticking the bloom spike. It rooted even though everyone said it wouldn't. I now have the year old plant to prove it and it is getting ready to bloom.

Hello! I have rooted a few things lately, and am also new to this. I was wondering if there is a set rule, as to how long it takes a cutting to be old enough/big enough to bloom- or if it just depends on the plant type. I have a well rooted honeysuckle and night jasmine vine that I am hoping to see bloom soon. they are both about 6" and 8" tall (small still-lol-). Any info would be more than appreciated!!

Almost all of these will also root if you bury a live stem. Some plants can't be bent to the ground, but if it reaches, I pin them in place with a piece of wire and cut them a couple loose of months later.

My Clematis will have one strong vine pinned all summer. I just keep burying the new growth when it is long enough.

I see that my Comtesse de brouchad clematis has a lower stem and I was going to try to layer that one stem, that is close to the ground. I don't have any of those plant pins, can they be purchased at places like home depot or lowe's or can I make my own from pieces of wire, like maybe bending a thin metal coat hander and cutting it to size?