12 Plants to Propagate From Cuttings in September (Before Frost)

The basic routine is simple. Take a healthy, non-flowering tip with clean snips, cut just below a leaf joint, remove any leaves that would sit below the surface, and place the stem in pre-moistened rooting mix. Keep it warm in bright, indirect light. A loose clear cover helps leafy cuttings hold moisture, but open it daily—and skip the cover for rot-prone Mediterranean herbs.

Take two or three cuttings of anything you truly want to keep. Propagation is generous, but it is not a signed contract.

1. Coleus

If one container plant can make a beginner feel like a propagation wizard, it is coleus. Those thick, square stems usually root with very little fuss.

Cut a 3- to 4-inch tip just below a leaf joint. Remove the bottom pair or two of leaves and any flower spike. Put the bare joint in moist potting mix, vermiculite, or a glass of water. Keep the leaves above the waterline.

A bright window without hard afternoon sun is ideal. When water-grown roots are roughly an inch long, move the cutting into potting mix. Pinch the growing tip after it settles in to encourage a bushy little plant rather than one lanky winter flagpole.

Do this before chilly nights rough up the foliage. A cutting is far easier to fit on a windowsill than the patio plant that was threatening to swallow the chair.

2. Zonal geranium

That red, salmon, or pink “geranium” in the porch pot is usually a Pelargonium. Saving the whole woody plant works, but cuttings take far less room and often look fresher by spring.

Take a 3- to 4-inch non-flowering shoot and remove the lower leaves. Let the cut surface air-dry for several hours before placing it in barely moist perlite, vermiculite, or a loose potting mix. Rooting hormone is optional.

Geranium stems dislike being kept swampy. Give them bright light, airflow, and a container with drainage. A tightly sealed humidity tent can invite rot, so use one only loosely, if at all.

Rooting may take four to eight weeks. A gentle tug that meets resistance tells you more than repeatedly digging up the stem to “check on it.”

3. Fuchsia

A favorite hanging-basket fuchsia can be maddeningly expensive to replace, especially after it has finally reached that perfect waterfall shape. Fortunately, its soft tips root readily.

Choose a 2- to 4-inch green shoot with no flower buds. Cut below a joint, strip the lower leaves, and set the stem in moist rooting mix. You can also root it in a small jar of water, provided no leaves are submerged.

Keep fuchsia cuttings cool, bright, and out of direct sun. Water-rooted cuttings can be potted when the roots reach about 1/2 to 1 inch long.

Inspect the shoot tips before bringing them indoors. Distorted, blistered, or unusually hairy growth can signal fuchsia gall mite. Only take cuttings from clean, vigorous plants; a free plant is no bargain if it imports a pest collection.

4. Impatiens

Impatiens behave like the optimistic overachievers of the cutting tray. Their tender stems can make roots quickly, which is useful when frost is suddenly in next week’s forecast.

Snip a healthy 3- to 4-inch tip with at least two leaf joints. Remove flowers, buds, and the lower leaves. Place one bare joint in water or tuck it into moist vermiculite.

Warmth matters. Keep the cuttings away from cold glass and harsh sunlight, but give them plenty of bright, indirect light. Pot water-rooted stems before their roots become a tangled white mop.

Start several, because soft stems also rot quickly if water is stale or the mix is sodden. If the parent plant shows spotting, collapse, or mildew, leave it outdoors rather than carrying trouble into the house.

5. Wax begonia

Wax begonias are the neat little bedding plants with glossy leaves and constant pink, white, or red flowers. They are not the big-flowered tuberous begonias that are usually stored as dormant tubers.

Take a 2- to 3-inch branch tip and remove the leaves from its lower half. Root it in water or a light, damp medium. Keep the cup or pot warm and in bright, filtered light.

Fresh roots often appear in three to four weeks. Once a water-rooted cutting has a modest cluster of roots, pot it up; waiting for a full beard of roots makes the transition to soil harder.

The fleshy stem stores moisture, so resist the urge to pour in more water every time you walk past. Damp is useful. Soggy is compost with ambitions.

6. Lantana

Lantana can become a woody shrub in warm climates, but in cold-winter areas it is often treated as an annual. A few cuttings let you save a favorite flower color without hauling in a hefty container.

Select a 3- to 5-inch tip that is not flowering. Remove the bottom leaves and sink at least one bare joint into moist, free-draining mix. A loose clear cover helps prevent wilting while roots form; give it a little fresh air every day.

Keep it warm and bright. Do not fertilize until new growth and a gentle tug suggest that roots have formed.

Lantana can be invasive in frost-free regions, so check local guidance before making extras for outdoor planting. Wear gloves if its rough foliage bothers your skin, and keep plant material away from children and pets.

7. Ornamental sweet potato vine

That chartreuse or deep-purple trailer spilling from a summer container is the same species as an edible sweet potato, but ornamental selections are chosen for foliage. They are also famously easy to multiply.

Cut a 4- to 6-inch length of vine with several joints. Remove the leaves from the lowest one or two joints and place those joints in water. Roots usually gather at the submerged joints.

Pot the rooted piece and give it your brightest indoor spot. Pinch it whenever it starts making a determined run across the windowsill.

Make the cuttings before frost blackens the vine. Once cold has turned the stems limp and translucent, healthy propagation material is much harder to find. Taking several short tips now is less bother than trying to store a tiny, unreliable tuber.

8. Bigleaf hydrangea

By September, hydrangea shoots often have the useful “semi-ripe” texture: firm and beginning to mature near the base, but still flexible toward the tip.

Take a 4- to 6-inch non-flowering shoot from this year’s growth. Trim just below a leaf joint, remove the bottom leaves, and leave one or two pairs at the top. Cut very large leaves in half across their width to reduce water loss.

Insert the stem in a 50/50 blend of potting mix and coarse grit or perlite. Keep it humid, out of direct sun, and sheltered from freezing weather while it roots.

Do not use a flowering tip if a plain leafy shoot is available. The bloom is pretty, but it asks a rootless stem to do two jobs when one is already enough.

9. English lavender

Lavender is perfectly happy in lean, gritty conditions and deeply unimpressed by wet feet. Its cuttings have the same opinion.

Choose a 3- to 4-inch non-flowering side shoot with a firm base and soft tip. Pull off the leaves from the lower third, then insert the stem around the edge of a pot filled with a very free-draining mix.

Keep the mix only lightly moist. Give the pot bright light and good air movement, but protect it from hot direct sun while the stems have no roots. A sealed plastic bag holds too much moisture for lavender; if you use a cover, keep it loose and ventilated.

Several cuttings around one pot improve the odds without using much space. Once they root, pot them separately and keep them protected through their first winter.

10. Rosemary

Rosemary can be temperamental indoors, which is exactly why a few compact cuttings are useful. Smaller plants are easier to place under strong light and less heartbreaking to lose than one ancient patio shrub.

Snip a 4- to 6-inch shoot whose base has begun to firm up. Remove the lower needles and any flowers, then insert the stem in a gritty, sterile mix. Rooting hormone can help, but it is not mandatory.

Keep the medium slightly damp—not wet—and give the cutting bright indirect light. Rosemary may take longer than coleus, so patience is part of the equipment list.

Once rooted, excellent drainage and strong light remain essential. Water when the surface begins to dry, and do not leave the pot standing in a saucer of water.

11. Garden sage

An old sage plant can get woody, sparse, and more stem than supper. A September cutting is a tidy way to start a younger replacement while there is still healthy new growth to choose from.

Take a 3- to 4-inch leafy tip without flowers. Strip the lower leaves and set the stem in a sandy or perlite-rich medium. A cutting with a firm base and flexible top is ideal at this time of year.

Keep it warm and lightly moist in bright, indirect light. Sage leaves are fuzzy and hold moisture, so crowding and stagnant, steamy air can encourage trouble.

When new growth begins and the stem resists a gentle tug, move it into its own small pot. Give it the sunniest indoor spot you can manage and let the top of the mix dry slightly between waterings.

12. Common thyme

Thyme cuttings are small enough to look rather unpromising, but several can share one pot and become useful little plants by spring.

Clip 2- to 3-inch non-flowering tips and strip the leaves from the lower half. Make a pencil hole, insert the bare stem, and firm a gritty rooting mix around it. Placing four or five cuttings near the pot’s edge gives each stem airflow and drainage.

Keep the pot barely moist in bright light. Like lavender and rosemary, thyme is far more likely to forgive a short dry spell than a waterlogged root zone.

Once the cuttings show fresh growth, separate them or keep a small cluster together for a fuller pot. That modest windowsill pot can become next summer’s path edging, container filler, and seasoning jar.

September propagation is not about turning the kitchen into a laboratory. It is simply a way to notice what the garden is offering before cold weather takes it back. Start clean, label every pot, and adjust moisture to the plant in front of you. The easy, fleshy stems want humidity; the silvery Mediterranean herbs want air and drainage.

For the underlying methods, see the Royal Horticultural Society’s guide to semi-ripe cuttings, University of Minnesota Extension’s advice on making new plants for next summer, and Illinois Extension’s practical guide to stem cuttings.

Photo credits

All images are hosted by Wikimedia Commons. Click any article image to open its original file page.

1. Coleus scutellarioides cultivars — Wilfredor, CC0.
2. Pelargonium × hortorum mixed — Hardyplants, CC0.
3. Brincos De Princesa (Fuchsia) — Gold Bernard, CC BY-SA 3.0.
4. Impatiens walleriana — Thegreenj, CC BY-SA 3.0.
5. Begonia cucullata — Dick Culbert, CC BY 2.0.
6. Lantana flower and leaves — Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0.
7. Ipomoea batatas ‘Marguerite’ — Yercaud-elango, CC BY-SA 4.0.
8. Natural Hydrangea macrophylla — belvedere04, CC BY 4.0.
9. Lavandula angustifolia in Sedovo — Andrey Butko, CC BY-SA 3.0.
10. Rosemary in bloom — Margalob, CC BY-SA 4.0.
11. Salvia officinalis — Kurt Stüber, CC BY-SA 3.0.
12. Thymus vulgaris — Henry Brisse (uploaded by Abalg), CC BY-SA 3.0.