How to Get Free Hydrangeas: 6 Simple Steps to Multiply Your Beautiful Blooms

Add more flowers to your landscape or garden for free with this easy step-by-step guide. You can use this same simple method to propagate other hardy and tender perennials, deciduous shrubs, and even some trees.

Happy Friday!

Hydrangeas are blooming in our zone 8a garden, and I’m sharing how to get more hydrangeas using softwood cuttings, so you can have more beautiful flowers in your garden and landscape. . .for free!

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Hydrangeas can be propagated through softwood cuttings, a process where new, non-flowering shoots are taken from the parent plant to create new plants. The best time to propagate hydrangeas is in late spring or early summer, before the stems get woody. You use this method with big leaf hydrangea varieties or panicle variety hydrangeas, as well as many other hardy and tender perennials, deciduous shrubs, and even some trees.

To start, you’ll want to select healthy, non-flowering stems, cutting in them in the morning, when stems are fully hydrated. Place your cuttings in water to keep them hydrated while you gather your supplies.

Here are the simple steps to multiply hydrangeas in your landscape or garden! In addition to your cuttings, you’ll need some well-draining potting soil, pots, pruning shears and rooting hormone.

Fiskars Bypass Pruning Shears, 5/8-Inch Cut Capacity Garden Clippers

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Step 1: Take cuttings

Using pruning shears, cut 6 – 8 inch flowerless stems from your hydrangea, just below a leaf node (where leaves attach to the stem). Make your final cut about 1/2 inch below the nodes. This ensures the node is submerged or in direct contact with the rooting medium, encouraging root development. Leaving too much stem below the node can lead to rot.

Nodes are the points where leaves attach to the stem, and they also contain dormant leaf buds that can develop into new shoots, where root growth begins.

Step 2: Prepare the cuttings

Remove all leaves except for the top set, cutting the largest leaves in half, to reduce moisture loss while your cutting is developing roots.

Step 3: Apply rooting hormone.

Dip the cut end of the stem in water to help the rooting hormone adhere, then dip the wet stem into rooting hormone; gently tapping off excess.

Note: To keep your rooting hormone fresh, pour some rooting hormone into a separate container to dip your stems into. If you dip your stems directly into the container, the moisture on the cutting will degrade the remaining hormone.

Step 3: Plant the cuttings

Plant the cuttings in moist well-draining potting mix, in individual containers or pots. I had recycled all my small pots at the garden center so I used plastic cups, cutting holes in the bottoms for drainage. Make a hole in your pot of potting mix a little larger than the diameter of your stems using with a small stick/twig (or pencil), so the rooting hormone stays on your cutting when planting. Firm up the soil around your newly planted stem. I misted my newly planted cuttings with a spray bottle of water.

Step 4: Maintain moisture and humidity

Keep the soil consistently moist but not soggy, and provide a humid environment. You want to keep the soil moist but not waterlogged to prevent stem rot. I used a lidded clear plastic storage bin, which functions as mini greenhouse, creating a controlled environment with high humidity, which is beneficial for root development in hydrangea cuttings.

I also cut the bottom off of a gallon plastic jug to use it as a cloche, and placed over a larger pot with three cuttings.

You can remove the lid on the plastic jug as needed for air circulation, to prevent build up of excess moisture.

If you use the plastic bin method, check the moisture level and remove the lid as needed,

if you see an excess build up of moisture on the walls of your bin.

Step 5: Provide indirect sunlight

Place the cuttings in a bright location with indirect sunlight to prevent leaf burn. I placed my bin and pot on the porch where they get bright light but no direct sun. Cuttings typically take 4 – 6 weeks to develop roots.

Step 6:  Transplant when rooted.

I planted my cuttings two weeks ago, so I have a few more weeks to go before checking on root development. If you see new leaves emerging, it’s a good indication that the cutting is rooted. You also can check by gently tugging to see if if your cutting feels anchored and there is resistance.

Once new roots have formed, you can transplant the cuttings into larger containers and move them outdoors and keep them in a partially shaded location. I’ll keep them watered and shaded, waiting to transplant the new cuttings / pots directly in the ground in the fall, after the heat of summer subsides.

Easiest method of propagation: Ground layering

This is the easiest method to propagate hydrangeas: simply bend a stem down to the ground, bury a portion of it in soil, (or weight it down with a rock) and wait for it to root. Once rooted, the new plant can be separated from the mother plant.  I discovered this method many years ago, when a hydrangea stem was accidently buried under a layer of mulch applied in the spring.

Most of what we have blooming now are Endless Summer Hydrangeas, a re-blooming bigleaf variety of hydrangea.

Early season flowers are produced from buds on old wood from the previous year,

with the new season’s growth pushing blooms later in the summer.

I highly recommend planting an Endless Summer Hydrangea if you have room in your landscape.

They mature to 3 – 5 feet in height and width and are hardy in USDA zones 4 – 9.

Hydrangeas need sun to bloom, but prefer morning sun with afternoon shade

especially in the hot and humid South. . .just like me. ;)

Endless Summer Hydrangeas can be blue or pink depending on your soil’s pH level,

turning blue in acidic soil and pink in alkaline soil.

When fertilizing Endless Summer Hydrangeas, give your reblooming hydrangeas the fuel they need

with a slow-release granular fertilizer labeled ‘bloom boost,’

and higher level of phosphorus, the nutrient that promotes flower formation,

like Schultz Bloom Plus Slow-Release Plant Food (12-24-12).

(Phosphorus is the middle number in the N-P-K nutrient label.) 

Fertilize your hydrangeas when you see green foliage begin to emerge from the bases of the stems

in the spring, and again after the first set of blooms fade.

To make way for the new flowers, snip off the faded blooms,

pruning away each flower head down to the first set of leaves.

You can amend your soil to become more acidic by adding composted oak leaves,

pine needles and coffee grounds.

For quicker results, use a soil acidifier product,

following the directions on the package to produce blue flowers.

Garden lime will increase soil alkalinity and keep hydrangeas pink in color.

Find flower arranging and longevity tips to create a floral centerpiece using hydrangeas and garden foliage:

Buzzing with Bees and Blooms: Lakeside Table + DIY Floral Centerpiece

More hydrangea inspiration:

How to Create a Lemon Vase Flower Arrangement and Alfresco Summer Table

A DIY and upcycle:

A Prime Solution and Envelope Upcycle for a Basket Buzzing with Blooms

And food fun:

How to Make Hydrangea Frosted Cupcakes with Edible Wafer Paper Butterflies

Thank you for your visit, sharing with:

Between Naps on the Porch