cuttings - when?

[peter594]

Sorry if this is a basic question, but I'm a bit confused about when to take cuttings. I'm interesting in propogating things like verbena, cosmos, nicotena, possibly also petunias.
My trusty copy of The Flower Expert talks about March-April. Does that mean that I've missed my chance or is that next year? Are these plants going to be alive next spring? I thought not.
A local gardener I met (talking about fuschia) told me that you can take cuttings at any time - he had the healthy plants to prove it.
Does this apply to all plants?
Any advice v welcome.
Thanks
Pete

[Miranda]

When you take cuttings depends on the plant and there are many methods. Unless you're keeping the first ones you mentioned in a greenhouse, it's probably a bit late for this year, but you could always save some seed from them to start off next spring. When you do come to take cuttings, select strongly growing non-flowering stems, as these will take most easily.

If it's Verbena bonariensis you've got, then it probably will be alive next spring, unless your soil is very wet, but the others aren't hardy so will likely not come through the winter.

Some plants are better propagated when they are dormant, like dog woods and roses, and some when they are actively growing; some respond better to stem cuttings, some to air layering and others to root cuttings. It's worth finding out what methods plants respond best to and the RHS have a really good book on it, unsurprisingly called 'Plant Propagation'. Neil's Complete Gardens disk also has masses of information about cuttings and everything else related to the plants.

I wrote a couple of pages that might get you started:

http://www.wildchicken.com/nature/garden/ga003_semi-ripe_cuttings.htm

http://www.wildchicken.com/nature/garden/ga009_softwood_cuttings.htm