Are you going to prune? Take some cuttings while you're at it—they'll make free plants!

Many plants can be pruned in the spring. Starting in February, you can begin with panicle hydrangeas, ornamental grasses, and perennials. In March, we prune roses, hydrangeas, butterfly bushes, lavender… You can throw away the pruning trimmings or compost them. But many plants are also perfect for taking winter cuttings or wood cuttings. This is a very easy way to grow more plants for free.

Take wood cuttings when pruning

So get into the habit of taking wood cuttings right away when you prune in the spring.

All you need are woody stems from the plant that are about 15–30 cm long and as thick as a pencil. So you can just use your pruning trimmings!

Be sure to know which end of each cutting is the top and which is the bottom. After pruning, lay them all out in the same orientation, or trim the bottom straight and the top at an angle, so you can always tell them apart.

Place the cuttings in a pot filled with sand, potting soil, or garden soil, or plant them directly in the ground in your garden. Then you can forget about them for a while: it takes a few months to find out if your cuttings have taken root. Woody cuttings take much longer to root than semi-woody or softwood cuttings. The advantage of this is that they’re also less likely to dry out. Of course, you’ll need to place them somewhere where they can benefit from rainfall.

You can read all about taking cuttings from wood in our blog post: How to Take Winter Cuttings

Which plants are suitable for taking cuttings?

Many plants (especially deciduous shrubs) are suitable for winter cuttings or woody cuttings. Examples include butterfly bush, dogwood, fig, panicle hydrangea, rose, willow, berry bushes, yew, and woody herbs such as lavender and rosemary.

Want to know which other plants are suitable? Check out our list of 66 easy plants for winter cuttings

Get more free plants for your garden

By taking cuttings while pruning in the spring, you can easily grow new plants yourself—completely for free! Yes, it takes a while for them to take root and a little longer still before they grow well, but it’s a very easy (and free) way to add more plants to your garden. And of course, you can also introduce cuttings from your friends’ and family’s gardens into your own.