It doesn't take long and you fall in love with the lavender heather. It looks just too pretty with its red foliage and bell-shaped flowers. The good news: even for beginners it is not a big challenge to multiply them!
Lavender heather is best propagated by cuttings
Combine cutting work with cuttings: propagation of cuttings
Pruning the lavender heather is recommended every year to encourage the plant to develop many flower buds. It turns out to be well tolerated by pruning and when pruning, it is not uncommon for clippings to be produced that are ideal for cuttings.
Immediately after flowering, the lavender heather is cut. To obtain cuttings, you need shoots that are not too fresh and not too lignified. Ideal are those that are beginning to woody and are already slightly brown. Cut or break them off. Breaking off has turned out to be advantageous for the subsequent rooting.
This is how it goes on:
- remove lower leaves
- Leave 3 to 4 top leaves
- Stick the cutting halfway into potting soil
- Moisten the soil and keep it moist
- as soon as new leaves have appeared, repot if necessary
When the cutting is rooted
Now the cutting can take off. Usually the first roots form after 8 to 12 weeks. If you took the cuttings in the summer, it can theoretically be planted outside in the fall. The location should be sunny to semi-shady. An acidic, well-drained, humus-rich and slightly moist substrate is ideal. Rhododendron earth is also excellent!
Lowering: without much effort
A second method with which the shadow bell is easy to multiply is the lowering method. Wear gardening gloves! Lavender heather is poisonous and contains skin-irritating substances.
Action:
- in spring between February and March
- Dig a furrow 10 to 20 cm deep in the ground
- bend down one-year-old or two-year-old shoots
- place in the furrow, cover with soil so that the tip sticks out about 30 cm
- weigh it down with a wire, hook or stone
- keep soil moistured
- Cut off in autumn and plant in another location
tips
The lavender heather is hardy. But the young cuttings should be allowed to hibernate in a sheltered place, for example on the balcony, for the first winter.