Propagating Salvias

At this property we have an area where the roses grow, but unfortunately not much else, this makes the bed look empty and a bit bland. The idea was to under plant some Salvia nachtvlinder, in theory this will also help with reducing the chances of Rose Black Spot due to the release of sulphur which suppresses the out break of the disease.

In a near by bed, there are some well established S. nachtvlinder where decided to take some cutting from, I made sue to cut the new shoots that have no flower to make sure we had the best chance of these rooting because they are not wasting their energy on the flower and can put all their resources into producing heating roots.

Established Salvia nachtvlinder

Cutting the shoots under a leaf node

Secateurs and bag to store cuttings

Pot and cuttings

The cuttings were immediately put into a sandwich bag so they didn't dry up before planting them. The location for potting these was in the greenhouse and as it was a hot day, the temperature in there was around 35 degrees, so I had to work fast. The next step was to fill the post with some John Innes No 1, this is a nice fine growing media and ideal for soft cuttings. Before potting the cuttings into the soil, I trimmed the leaves from the lowest two nodes making sure both nodes would sink below the soil level. I also cut the apicle meristem from the cuttings, this would encourage root growth.

Sharp snips that removed the leaves from the cuttings

Cuttings after potting up

Even though I was working fast to get these in the pots before they wilted, there were still some that were struggling by the time they were planted. I put these pots into a tray of water so they would not dry out in the heat, the relative humidity in the green house was quite high and after just 30 minutes from planting, the wilting cuttings were already showing signs of turgidity returning to their stems.

Time lapse of planting the cuttings

After this stage it was just a matter of giving the cutting time to grow roots and establish in the pots. We visited the property every two weeks and on our third visit from planting, we saw an incredible amount of growth which was very exciting for me as it was the first time I had ever propagated anything. Every time we visited we made sure the pots had plenty of water, and if needed, I asked the home owner to keep an eye on the water levels from time to time, especially as the temperature was so high for a for a prolonged period of time.

Salvias starting to flower and Hylotelephiums (Propagated later by my work colleague)

The weather continued to stay very hot and dry, this held us back from planting the Salvias into the rose bed, we knew that if we planted them we wouldn't be around enough to nurse them through the early days. What we decided to do was cut the planted back with the intention of thickening their growth before going into the ground.

Eventually the rain came and the ground was wet enough to plant with the added security of more rain coming

Example of Cutting planted into bed

Watering the new plants

After planting under the roses I had a few left over that I was able to fill in a few empty places in other beds. I am now looking forward to seeing these plants grow and flourish.