Can I save this?

[tothelefttotheleft]

I was in a rush cutting back a lavender and accidentally chopped this. The root and stem are still in the ground.

Can I do anything with this piece or is it done for?

I've looked it up. I think it's baby sage/ salvia mycrophilla.

Take cuttings and put in gritty compost with a plastic bag on the top and put somwhere shaded and frost free. You'll have lots of new plants. It's a good time of year to take cuttings.

@BadActingParsley

How do you take cuttings?

Do you have to buy gritty soil?

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-take-summer-cuttings/

Here you go - you don't have to register to read it. Just use normal compost from a bag if you have some to hand. It's worth a try.

You could just use earth if you don't have any compost but try and incorporate something that will improve draingage if you can.

Put it in a jar of water to keep it as fresh as possible while you gather what you need.

Good luck!

Put the flowering bits in a vase and enjoy them. You could try taking cuttings with the rest of it. The base of the plant is still there in the ground, so will continue to grow anyway.

I put salvia cuttings ( see above helpful instructions) in a glass of water , they will root quite quickly at this time of year and I then pot them on into a gritty potting compost.

Garden health warning. Salvias are a bit addictive, you start with one and before you know it you have seven……

Thankyou everyone.

Can you make the Salvias grow more bushy? This one is literally one stem.

I think (but stand to be corrected) that you can Chelsea chop them. Cut them down to about half in May and you should get more flowers later in the year. Maybe don't try it with all of them to begin with, just in case.

I divide lots of plants in my garden but growing cuttings seems so daunting to me.

If you can divide plants then you can do cuttings. It’s not hard though that branch may be past its best now!

You need to do it straight away? I put it in water Told you I wouldn't be able to do it!

The plant in the ground will die back over the winter & regrow back in spring. It will get bushier as it gets older/bigger. But check it’s not being pushed out by the lavender. Salvia’s like sun & will get leggy if they are overshadowed.

Oh salvia cuttings root as soon as you look at them! I had one which arrived with a stem snapped off in late June, and that snapped stem is currently about 30cm high in my kitchen windowsill (will put it in the cold frame over winter and then plant it out in spring, it’s getting a bit late to do it now).

Put a sprig in some damp compost in a pot, put it in your windowsill, keep it moist but not soaking, and it will take.

Yes that is very true! I have a couple of different varieties in various borders and pots, and have just taken cuttings from all of them in case any don’t make it through winter… if they all survive I am going to have about 90 million of them

The gold standard way is to put the cuttings in a plastic bag as you take them ...but tbh salvia are fairly bomb proof so as long as it's looking fairly healthy you can do it - or, as others have said, pop it in some water till you've got time to deal with it. You'll probably find the whole branch will start putting out roots in the water if you leave it. Honestly once you've tried a few cuttings it'll get addictive. They won't all work.

Gritty compost is just compost with vermiculite or horticultural grit in it.

Rose cuttings this time of year are very easy - you can just cut off a sturdy pruning and put it in the ground and it's likely to take (as long as you put it in the right way up - that was my rookie mistake).

(as long as you put it in the right way up - that was my rookie mistake)

OTOH, if you're using freshly cut sticks from a plant to use as support for something else put them in upside down

If you have spare bits I’d also put a few in water. Take of all leaves except top 2 or 4 if they are very small. I’ve had a lot of success rooting herbs in water