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How & when erisimum & scabious cuttings?

LokelaniLokelani Posts: 112

I'm not very experienced wtih cuttings, could anyone tell me when & describe how to take them from erisimum bowles mauve & scabious butterfly blue?

They're both meant to be hardy but I don't want to take any chances & would like more of them. 

Should I deadhead the stalk off both plants too, to keep them producing more, or should I leave them on & is it worth collecting seed?

Many thanks for any help. 

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  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Erisimum now-just pull a shoot away from the plant with a bit of a heel attached, trim and pop in some compost-cover with a plastic bag and they root in about 3 weeks-I found they rooted quicker that way than in the normal cutting way

    They are completly hardy.

    To prolong flowering remove the dying stems.

  • kate1123kate1123 Posts: 2,815

    For the Erysimum Bowles Mauve, now is the perfect time to take cuttings, find a small shoot on the side of the plant and peel off to make a heel cutting, stick 4 or 5 around the edge of a pot containing gritty compost and water in. 

    I dead head my Erysimum regularly and it flowers all summer. You cannot collect seeds from this.

  • LokelaniLokelani Posts: 112

    Oh excellent, thank you ever so much! That sounds easy enough. I'll deadhead from now on & take lots of cuttings.

    Anyone know about the scabious? 

     

     

  • Hello lokelani,

    I've grown Scabious 'Butterfly Blue' from bought seeds. This works well. As it's a perennial it may not flower in the first year, but should do if you sow it early enough. Do also try collecting seeds. However, if you grow from seeds you've collected in your garden, you may get some surprising colours as they may not 'grow true'.

    Good luck,

    Emma

    gardenersworld.com team

  • weejennyweejenny Posts: 386

    Ive not taken cuttings from scabious but they self seed all over the garden. I gave away some of my prescious scabious plants, that Id lovingly grown from seed, called macedonica and one called melton pastels to friends that I thought would look after them I felt daft when it ended up self seeding all over theis gardens too. Google them they are gorgeous

  • Alina WAlina W Posts: 1,445

    Best way to multipy scabious I've found is to split the plants once they've grown. Best to wait two or three years, though.

  • JengilJengil Posts: 35

    I took a few stem cuttings from my scabious beginning of June and they have rooted but are growing slowly. I am a bit cuttings mad and will try cuttings from anything!

  • For Scabious, remove rooted plantlets in the spring, when the new shoots come up. Just under the soil at the bottom of the plant, you just cut a shoot with a bit of root attached and pot it up. These cuttings have a very good success rate. Apparently, you can also take cuttings in the summer, but I don't know what the success rate is like. You can also divide the plants in autumn or spring, which will also regenerate the existing plants.

  • LokelaniLokelani Posts: 112

    That's great, thank you all. I shall have a go. 

  • Not a reply to Lokelani, but just hoping someone may have a positive word to say for me image It's right at the beginning of March and I am going to take some cuttings from my Erysimum Bowles Mauve ...... and hoping it may be successful in spite of the time of year! We have just moved and I managed to bring some plants that I had grown from cuttings earlier that are doing very well, but there aren't enough. There are going in a 50/50 John Innes No 1 and perlite with rooting powder in a heated propagator ..... I can't do more than that! Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

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