Rose Cuttings Done Simply

Now Is the Sweet Spot for Taking Rose Cuttings - Here's How to Do It in 7 Simple Steps

I was eight years old when I was bought my first rose. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree - my parents were rose lovers and we had a rose bed in the back garden. Me and my four brothers were taken to the garden centre and each given a rose of our own to look after. I chose a garden rose called 'Gail Borden' - large, fully double, high-centred blooms in a pink blend, with peachy salmon colouring and a paler, creamy gold reverse, and fragrant too. I later found out it's a Hybrid Tea bred by Kordes in the 1950s, and named after the American inventor of condensed milk, whose company apparently used it for promotional purposes at the time. It's still going as an accepted RHS cultivar, though you're more likely to find it through a specialist grower than your local garden centre these days.

That rose bed is where the rose petal perfume business began too - I used to make it from the blooms and sell it back to my own mum and family. So the roses-and-flowers thing has been coming for a while.

How I actually learned to take cuttings… by accident

I discovered how to take cuttings from roses purely by chance. I'd pruned my garden roses at the right time and mistakenly left a couple of cuttings lying on the flower bed. There they stayed over the coming months, and when I came to do my spring tidy up, I went to lift them and found they'd actually sunk into the soil and grown roots over the winter. I lifted them carefully, potted them into fresh compost, and - hey presto - by the following summer I had a flowering rose. It's still in my garden eight years later.

The following autumn I tried Monty Don's method deliberately, and that's the version I still use now.

Why late August–September is the sweet spot

Late August through September is your sweet spot right now if you want to get going this year - you want semi-ripe cuttings, taken just after a flush of blooms has faded. The stems have firmed up a bit by this point but they're not fully woody, which is exactly what you're after. It's the classic "peg it in a pot with some grit" method, and it's genuinely the easiest way to get free roses.

How to take rose cuttings, in 7 steps

1. Choose your moment. Late August to September, just after a flush of blooms has faded and the stems have firmed up a bit - this is your semi-ripe window.

2. Pick your stem. Look for something roughly pencil-thick, about 25cm long.

3. Cut the base. A straight cut, just below a leaf node.

4. Cut the top. An angled cut, just above a leaf node - this also helps you remember which end is up.

5. Strip the leaves. Take off the lower leaves entirely, leaving just one or two at the top.

6. Plant it. Pop it into gritty, free-draining compost, or a trench with a bit of sand in the base.

7. Leave it be. Find it a spot in the garden, mark it so you remember where it is, and leave it alone until spring.

Top tips

1. Timing it right. Late August through September is your sweet spot - semi-ripe cuttings, taken just after a flush of blooms has faded, root the fastest of the three cutting types. Roots form in about six to eight weeks, but be aware about the rest of the timeline - a full year in pots building roots and top growth, planting out the following spring or summer, and typically two to three years all in before you get a proper flush of blooms. A cutting taken this September realistically flowers around 2028–2029. If you're short on patience, buying a few bare-root roses alongside your free cuttings is a nice way to get quicker wins while the long game plays out.

2. Shelter the babies. Once cuttings have rooted, I gently lift them, pot them on, and move them to what I call my "plant hospital" - a rickety old table on the verandah - topping up the compost regularly until they're strong and leafy enough to earn a pot of their own.

3. Create the space, then forget about it. Every year I save a space in my cutting garden just for growing free roses this way. Once I've popped the cuttings in a row along the edge of the raised bed, I genuinely ignore them until late spring, then lift them and move them on to shelter.

4. Manure, but not too soon. Well-rotted manure is brilliant, and the RHS recommends it as an organic soil improver and mulch, but timing matters. We have Shetland ponies in the paddock right next to the cutting garden, so I'm never short of the raw material - as long as it's not today's fresh output, it does the job well. If you don't have your own ponies, ask a local farmer or your nearest livery yard whether you can fill a couple of old compost bags, then store them in a shed or sheltered spot for a couple of months before use. One important distinction: I never use manure on fresh cuttings. When they're newly rooted, they get a light, free-draining compost instead, so their young roots aren't overloaded. It's only once they're well established and ready to pot on that manure comes into the picture, as a nutrient boost and later as a mulch for established plants.

5. Know the legals. Many roses in the average garden are older, unpatented varieties, so you're free to take cuttings, share and grow them as you please. It's only newer varieties under Plant Breeders' Rights (marked "PBR" on the label, usually for 20 to 25 years after registration) where you need to be a little careful, and even then, it's only growing them on to sell as plants that's restricted, not taking a cutting for your own garden.

6. Deal with pests without reaching for the spray. Two years ago I planted 53 bare-root roses, David Austin's 'Queen of Sweden', all in bud and ready for their glorious first flush, when in came the greenfly. I have never seen them so dense; I think I got maybe two flowers that year. My first instinct is never to reach for the spray. A few greenfly are simply part of having a healthy, wildlife-friendly garden, so I go for the good old squish-and-blast method: crushing them between finger and thumb, then giving the roses a strong jet of water from the hose (this was mercifully before the hosepipe ban) and letting the ladybirds and ants do the rest. It worked. The roses bounced back, and this year gave a spectacular display.

7. Use a Rooting Powder. I was late to this game but now I use a rooting powder for my cuttings to give them the best chance of survival. Cheap to buy and long-lasting, it’s one of those things I’d rather use than not if it means more roses for the garden.

Kate Oatley is a studio-based florist and keen gardener, creating seasonal, garden-inspired flowers from her family farm in Wiltshire. Her love of growing flowers for cutting began during lockdown, when she built dedicated cutting garden raised beds, and she now grows many flowers from seed. She grows roses and other seasonal blooms which find their way into her wedding designs wherever possible. Inspired by the English countryside and the natural beauty of the seasons, Kate creates romantic, abundant floral designs with a relaxed, just-gathered feel.

My website - https://www.kateoatleyflowers.com/