How to Propagate Caryopteris

Caryopteris cuttings root very easily from internodal cuttings with greenwood or semi-ripe wood. The best time to take cuttings is the the late spring to early summer to allow time for roots to form and the plant to get established before fall.

Caryopteris was one of the new perennials I added to my garden last year. It did very well last summer and fall with some late season color. I’m so happy with it I decided I needed a few more which means it’s time to propagate caryopteris. I have an area that I have almost finished mulching and had an idea that required more caryopteris plants than I had on hand. I wanted to create a line of caryopteris plants to define one border of the new garden. Rather than go out and spend money on this project I moved two large caryopteris plants from other gardens to the area then took cuttings from the other caryopteris plants I have.

How to take Caryopteris Cuttings

Take a stem-tip cutting of the caryopteris just above a node.

The node is the area where the leaf bud and are a storage point for rooting hormones. Caryopteris will root between the nodes so there is no need to have a node at the bottom of the cutting when they are stuck. This allows you to make more cuttings.

Leave a pair of leaves on the cutting.

The leaves were the only node I left on the cuttings. Two or three node cuttings may make a more established plant faster but I was looking for quantity rather than size. Testing the amount of leaf nodes and rooting time would be an interesting test!

Treat the cuttings with rooting hormone.

You don’t really have to do this (for caryopteris) but I’ve found that it speeds the process up. Also rooting hormones usually have a fungicide in them that helps to prevent diseases from damaging the cuttings.

Stick the caryopteris cuttings in rooting medium.

Here I used simple sand from a box store but you could use a few combinations of rooting medium including: sand/peat, peat/perlite, vermicculite/peat, fine bark shavings (soil conditioner), or even a sterile potting mix. Put your cuttings in a shady location and remember to check them for moisture. The medium should not be soaking wet but instead should maintain a “just damp” status. Leaf moisture is more important with cuttings. Plants lose moisture through the leaves with transpiration. If you mist your cuttings periodically it prevents that water loss. Putting the plants in a shady location with a once a day misting has been successful for me with a number of cuttings.

Wait for Roots

The caryopteris cuttings should form roots in 7 to 10 days. Check for root resistance by gently pulling on the stem of the cutting. Be careful with this step as sometimes rooting does not occur and you feel like there is resistance. If you are in doubt that roots have formed it is better to leave them a little longer and not disturb the roots to check.

Time to Pot the Cuttings

If there is resistance then pot them or plant them. Water the cuttings before removing from the medium to make removal easier. You can pry them up gently with a fork by pushing the fork under the cutting and lifting very carefully. Caryopteris is very forgiving of soil so pretty much any potting mix will work for them. I will often mix my own with 1/3 parts peat/soil conditioner/compost. You may need to add a little lime to balance the acidity of the peat. I will also fertilize with bonemeal/bloodmeal and will mix that into the soil.

That’s really all there is to rooting caryopteris. It may sound complicated but they root very reliably.

I’m currently working on getting more ‘Powis Castle’ Artemisia to root. I managed one already but it is such a great foliage plant that I can’t stop with just one! Hopefully I’ll have a post to share on that soon.

Quick Propagation Tip: June is a good time to take crape myrtle cuttings and to start taking cuttings of asters and chrysanthemums (mums) for fall! Just take your pinched off mum leftovers and treat them like the caryopteris cuttings in this post.

For more propagation fun check out some other handy plant propagation posts!

The book Propagating Plants can be a very useful resource for learning how to propagate plants of all kinds. I have used an earlier addition for years as a reference.