Salvia thymoides
Answered by: Inge Poot
Question from: Colleen Bourke
Posted on: December 15, 1998

I bought a Salvia thymoides plant last year. I was told it was a tender perennial. It has small greyish leaves, had lovely blue flowers and produced many flowing shoots that were very attractive in a hanging basket. It does not bear much resemblance to any sage I know, nor does it have the fragrance of a thyme.

I would like to propagate more of this "Salvia thymoides", but have had little success with cuttings.

Suggestions please?

To propagate a plant from cuttings you must be sure to take semi-ripe shoot tips -tips that have become a bit woody. Let the cut ends callus over for a few hours before dipping the cut end in a rooting hormone and then sticking the cut end into a pot of sterilized sandy potting mix. Water, allow to drain and enclose in a clean plastic bag and put in a bright but not sunny spot - preferably with some bottom heat.

You can also try layering or air layering. Put a shallow cut on the underside of a long shoot, then pin the shoot to the soil with a hair pin at the cut (layering) or pack some moist peat moss around the cut and enclose the moss ball with clean clear plastic held in place with soft string (air layering) and cut off tip of stem below roots, once roots have formed.

Richters carries an excellent book called" Growing Herbs from Seed, Cutting and Root" by Thomas DeBaggio(Catalogue #B4280) which can answer any further questions you might have on the subject of propagating.

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