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Daily gardening tip · Northern hemisphere · Tuesday 25 August 2026 · late summer

Rooting Herb Cuttings in Water

Late summer is the perfect time to propagate your favorite herbs so you can grow new plants indoors before the cold weather arrives.

Rooting Herb Cuttings in Water
10 minuteseasypropagation
  1. Cut a four-inch stem from a healthy rosemary or mint plant just below a leaf joint.
  2. Gently pinch off the leaves from the bottom half of the stem.
  3. Place the bare lower half of the stem into a small jar of room-temperature water.
  4. Set the jar on a windowsill that gets bright, indirect sunlight.
  5. Change the water every two days to keep it fresh until roots appear.
A garden in late summer

Why it works

The joint where leaves attach to a stem contains a high concentration of natural growth cells. Placing this section in fresh water stimulates these cells to grow roots instead of leaves, creating an entirely new plant.

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