Propagating verbascums
Q My friend says I can take root cuttings of the verbascums in her garden. They are good upright ones with white flowers. How do I propagate them from root cuttings and how long does it take for the plants to flower?
Corinne Calderbank, Birmingham
Your plants are likely to be, also known as nettle-leaved mullein. Slender spikes of white flowers to 3ft (1m) high might have yellow or purple stamens and make useful uprights in borders, with seed heads persisting well into winter. Plants seed themselves around in a useful way, but weed out unwanted seedlings promptly before they put down deep tap roots. Ground-hugging basal leaf rosettes often persist throughout winter.
