The Colorful Shrub You Can Propagate In Fall For Free Blooms Next Season

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Who doesn't love a free plant? Thanks to the magic of propagation, it's possible to get more bang for your buck in your garden — even when it comes to shrubs. The colorful hebe shrub, in particular, is a popular landscaping feature that is easily propagated. Available in variations that produce blue, pink, and even purple flowers, hebes are an evergreen shrub that grows best in full sun and semi-well-draining soil. Hebes do best in USDA Hardiness Zones 6 through 11. 

To propagate hebes, simply take cuttings from non-blooming shoots anywhere from August to October. Pop your cuttings in a well-draining medium — hebe propagations are prone to root rot — and care for them as you would any other semi-hardwood cuttings. By the following spring, your hebe cutting should be ready to plant in the ground. If cared for properly, you might even start to see blooms later in the same year. The best time of year to prune your hebes and ensure beautiful blooms is between late winter and early spring.

Propagating hebes is similar to propagating many other plants. When gathering cuttings from your hebe shrub, make sure to clip only new growth — you want your cuttings to be only semi-woody. Using a clean, sharp knife, make a clean cut between two nodes, cutting about 4 to 6 inches of stem. Try using a rooting hormone, like RootBoost Rooting Hormone from Amazon, which is just one type of rooting hormone you can use to multiply the plants in your garden.

To successfully root hebe cuttings, you'll need to strike a Goldilocks balance between overwatering and letting the cutting get too dry. Employ a well-draining propagation medium like perlite, coarse sand, or vermiculite and make sure the container you're propagating in has adequate drainage holes at the bottom. Make sure to soak the rooting medium thoroughly before planting your cuttings.

Good drainage will stave off root rot, but beware of letting your cutting dry out; try constructing a makeshift greenhouse over your container with small wooden stakes and a plastic bag or plastic wrap to help the rooting plant retain moisture. Once the cutting has developed a strong root system, you can move the plant from its propagation container into a pot with potting soil, where it can stay until the following spring or early fall.