Cuttings of sage and phlox

Cuttings of sage and phlox

This is something I did last week: I've taken cuttings of my hot-pink phox, which I really like and want more plants of (it's a perennial), and cuttings of sage to try to overwinter in the plastic greenhouse, or perhaps indoors (frost will kill them).

The plastic cover that you see is to keep the compost moist and give the cuttings a better chance to root (the sage got covered with a clear plastic bag and a clothes peg).  Late summer (that is, August) is supposed to be a good time to take cuttings of some plants - sage is one of them, and I've taken sage cuttings before (successfully). I've never tried to propagate phlox before, but I've read that cuttings taken in August do relatively well. To help save moisture I also cut most of the leaves, including the ones at the top that are softer and always dry out first. The plant only needs a few to stay alive and grow roots, the rest of the leaves only make it dry out too soon before it can produce roots.

I bought this phlox in early spring from the pound shop, because I can't resist a bargain... It has the most amazing pink flowers (see this previous post, under the onions), and it has flowered in a shady spot that almost never gets direct sunlight, so it's definitely on my top list! (ah, and the flowers are scented too. Hopefully next year I'll have a bigger plant and more flowers that I can cut for the house).

La semana pasada he plantado esquejes de salvia y de phlox paniculata (descripcion aqui). La salvia muere con las heladas, y los esquejes son para ver si los puedo mantener a salvo en el invernadero de plastico o en casa hasta el ano que viene. Ya he plantado esquejes de salvia otros anos, y se me dieron bien.


El phlox lo compre en primavera por una libra, fue una autentica ganga y se ha dado de maravilla. Las flores son de un rosa espectacular (mirad aqui, debajo de las cebollas). Es perenne, pero quiero mas plantas en el jardin porque me gusta mucho. Ademas, no hay muchas plantas que den flores en la esquina donde lo tengo, donde casi no le da el sol directo nunca. Y, por si todo esto fuera poco, las flores huelen!


Los esquejes los cubri con plastico para mantener la humedad. El phlox lo tengo con una botella de plastico cortada, la salvia la cubri luego con una bolsa de plastico transparente atada con una pinza. Para que no pierdan humedad, les dejo solo unas pocas hojas y les quito las hojas de la punta, que siempre son las mas blandas y se secan antes. Lo justo para que la planta siga viva y le de tiempo de producir raices antes de secarse.