Now the worst of the cold is past, I can at last cut back the penstemons. They should be left uncut during the winter as they can succumb to frost.
Although this isn’t supposed to be the right time of year for taking cuttings, I often take some after this spring pruning, as there are some nice tender side-stems available – and it’s so hard to throw them away!
When they’ve been put in compost, they only take a couple of weeks to take root – very easy, if you leave only a few leaves on them, cut the bottoms to leave a sharp edge, put them in a mixture of compost and sand or grit and cover with a plastic bag – I put sticks underneath to hold the bag away from the leaves, so they don’t rot with condensation. I also dip the stems in hormone rooting powder before planting in the compost mixture – I don’t know if that’s essential, but I have good results.
