05/13/2026
One healthy geranium in a hanging basket holds enough cuttings to fill every pot on the porch by next month. The same technique works across ten common garden flowers — one stem, one glass of water, no soil until roots appear. 🌿
The method is the same for all ten: take a cutting just below a leaf node, strip the lower leaves so no foliage sits in the water, place in a clean glass in bright indirect light, and change the water every two days. Roots appear at the nodes.
Ten flowers that root reliably in water, with cutting length and approximate timing:
- Geranium: 4-inch stem, let the cut end dry for an hour before placing in water to reduce rot risk. Roots in 3–4 weeks
- Fuchsia: 4-inch soft tip cutting taken in late spring. Roots in 2–3 weeks — among the fastest on this list
- Impatiens: 3-inch stem, roots visible in under 2 weeks. One of the easiest flowering plants to propagate
- Chrysanthemum: 4-inch cutting from soft green growth only, not woody stems. Take in early summer. Roots in 2–3 weeks
- Hydrangea: 5-inch cutting of new season green growth, bottom two sets of leaves removed. Roots in 3–4 weeks
- Salvia: 4-inch tip cutting, roots in 2–3 weeks. Works on both annual and perennial salvias
- Verbena: 4-inch cutting below a node, roots in 2–3 weeks
- Dahlia: 4-inch cutting from basal growth at the start of the season, roots in 3–4 weeks
- Petunia: 4-inch cutting, roots in 2–3 weeks. Take from a healthy trailing stem
- Lantana: 4-inch cutting, roots readily in 2–3 weeks. Invasive caution: do not plant in open ground in Florida, coastal Texas, or Hawaii. Grow in containers in those areas and dispose of spent plants responsibly 🌸
Once roots reach an inch or two in length, transfer to potting mix. Harden off in a shaded spot for a few days before moving to full sun.
