I had to have more of this great plant so I set about trying to root it. Just recently I potted up two rooted cuttings and took eight more! I tried two different ways (leaf cuttings and stem cuttings) initially but only found success with stem cuttings.
Here's how to root cuttings of 'Powis Castle' artemisia:
- Find a piece of stem with two nodes and make your cutting beneath the second node.
- Pinch off any top growth in the center and leave only one or two leaves. The fewer leaves you have the less water it will lose which increases the odds of success.
- Dip the end of the cutting in rooting hormone and place it into your potting medium.
- Keep the cutting medium moist for about two to three weeks then check for resistance.
- Pot them up and grow them until they are large enough to plant in your landscape!
Here is one of my rooted cuttings just before potting. There is only a tiny little root coming from the artemisia but it is just enough to get this plant growing. It began growing new foliage while still in its medium which is a good sign that rooting may have occurred.
Here you can see the root a little closer along with the rooting medium still somewhat attached. I don't wash it off since I would risk dislodging the newly formed root from the cutting. In this case I used a mix of sand and peat.
Here is the top leaf node of the cutting. I pinched it back during rooting to encourage root formation by forcing the auxins (hormones) in the plant to work toward making roots rather than foliage. Once rooting occurs, foliar growth resumes fairly quickly.
What new plant have you tried rooting this year?