Lavender has so many beneficial properties from freshening up a home to uses in cosmetics.   It also adds a gorgeous contrast of bright purple flowers against silver/gray foliage to the garden and the best bit is the bees love it too and it smells lovely. Growing lavender is great for so many reasons! Once you learn how to propagate lavender plants from your garden, you’ll be able to grow as much lavender as you want - and you can share it with all your friends too! Once you learn how to propagate lavender plants from your garden, you’ll be able to grow as much lavender as you want - and you can share it with all your friends too! How to propagate lavender plants from cuttings There are a few different ways you can propagate lavender plants, our favourite three are: by rooting the stems in the soil, by rooting the cuttings in water; or by collecting lavender seeds from your garden As cuttings are by far the easy way we will cover talk about propagating lavender from cuttings taken from mature plants, and then propagating them either in water or soil. Before you can propagate lavender, you’ll need to collect a few supplies. Don’t worry, you won’t need a bunch of expensive equipment - and you probably already have some of this stuff on hand. Supplies Needed: Propagation soil (I make my own using a mix of perlite, vermiculite, and potting soil - but a nice seed starting mix will work too) A container or propagation chamber Rooting hormone A sharp, sterile pair of clippers or a sharp knife Plastic bag (optional) Supplies needed for lavender plant propagation Supplies needed for lavender plant propagation If you’re going to be propagating lavender inside the house or outside in a dry climate, you’ll need to add humidity. It will be easiest to use a propagation chamber, or cover your cuttings with a plastic bag if you put them in a pot (simply tent the bag over the top of the cuttings). But if you live in a humid climate lavender cuttings will root pretty quickly outside in a shady spot.   Some tips: Have soil ready before taking lavender cuttings Prepare the soil or vase of water before taking your cuttings, that way you can get them into the dirt or water fairly quickly. You don’t want to let lavender cuttings dry out before you try propagating them. Taking Lavender Cuttings For Propagation There are a few things you need to look for before you take cuttings from your lavender plants. Ideally, you want to take cuttings of branches that haven’t flowered yet.   Flowering takes a lot of energy from the plant, and a branch that hasn’t flowered yet will be able to put all of that energy into growing new roots instead. Lavender branch without flowers It’s also best to take cuttings from a mature lavender plant rather than one that’s brand new or immature. Once you find the perfect branch, cut it from the plant at the base of the stem. Taking cuttings for lavender propagation Take cuttings that are several inches long.   You want the cuttings to have 3-5 leaf nodes on the stems that you can remove, but still, have several inches of growth at the top. Lavender cuttings are now ready for propagation! Preparing Lavender Cuttings For Propagation After taking cuttings from your lavender plant, remove the bottom 3-5 sets of leaves from the stem of the cutting. You can pinch them off with your fingernail, or snip them off with a sharp pair of clippers. Lavender cutting with several leaf nodes You want to leave small wounds on the stems, that’s where the roots will grow out of. Longer stems make it easier to propagate lavender plants because there will be more stem area to stick in the dirt/water, and that gives you a better chance of rooting. Remove lower leaves before propagating lavender If any of the lavender cuttings you took had already started to flower, simply snip or pinch off the flower spike to encourage the cutting to put that energy into growing new roots. A cutting with a flower on it is probably not going to root. Pinch off lavender flower spike before propagating Propagating Lavender Cuttings In Soil Once your cuttings are ready, dip the base of the cutting in rooting hormone.   Rooting hormone helps plants root faster. Enjoy your lavender growing. Gardenhood Team

How To Propagate Lavender Plants From Cuttings

Lavender has so many beneficial properties from freshening up a home to uses in cosmetics. It also adds a gorgeous contrast of bright purple flowers against silver/gray foliage to the garden and the best bit is the bees love it too and it smells lovely. Growing... #Featured #Gardenhood #Growing
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