Watering in freshly planted cuttings in a pot

Propagating arabis

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Thursday, 12 September 2019 at 3:13 pm

Follow our step-by-step guide to propagating arabis from cuttings.

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Rock plants, Arabis, spread by forming carpets, made up of small rosettes. Taking cuttings from these rosettes is a cheap way of propagating plants that grow naturally in this way.

Insert them into peat-free multi-purpose compost, with some horticultural grit or perlite added. Use a sharp knife or secateurs to prepare the cuttings as rock plants are prone to fungal infection if bruised.

While rock garden plants should never be left standing in water, cuttings can’t be allowed to dry out, so check and water them carefully. Keep the cuttings at around 10°-15°C, out of direct sunlight. Cover to keep in moisture, with a cloche or cold frame lid, but ventilate the plants frequently. Remove any cuttings that are dying back promptly so as not to spread any infection.

You Will Need

Multi-purpose, peat-free compost
Perlite, or horticultural grit
Sharp knife, or secateurs

Step 1

Taking arabis cuttings

Remove healthy, non-flowering rosettes with some stem attached from the parent plant. Be sure to make a clean cut. Handle the cuttings with tweezers if they’re very small.

Step 2

Prepared arabis cuttings

Trim each cutting to below a node and remove the leaves from the bottom of the stem. The finished cutting should have a short piece of stem and a rosette of leaves at the top.

Step 3

Potting up arabis cuttings

Using a dibber, place the cuttings, up to their leaves, in a small terracotta pot. (Terracotta reduces the chance of waterlogging, which would be fatal for these cuttings).

Step 4

Watering arabis cuttings

Water thoroughly, allowing the water to drain away from the pot afterwards. Once the cuttings have produced some new roots and leaves, pot them on singly.

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