Featured above: Many tender rose varieties are grafted to hardier stems to help them survive in northern climates.

Want to grow your garden without spending a dime? Try propagating your favorite plants. Here’s a list of plants that thrive in USDA Hardiness Zones 3, 4 and 5 and can be propagated by one or more methods. Don’t forget to keep the proper tools handy and set yourself up with proper prep no matter the method or plants you choose.

For more tips on how to propagate successfully, read Get More Plants for Free in the 2026 Spring Planning Issue of Northern Gardener magazine.

Best plants for division

Divide clumping perennials every 3 to 4 years to restore vigor and improve flowering.

• Astilbe (Astilbe)
• Bearded and wild iris, Siberian iris (Iris, Iris sibirica)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
• Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum)
• Coral bells (Heuchera)
• Tickseed (Coreopsis)
• Daylily (Hemerocallis)
• Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Ferns
• Hosta (Hosta)
• Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis)
• Catmint (Nepeta)
• Ornamental grasses
• Peonies (Paeonia)
• Phlox (Phlox)
• Sedum (Sedum)
• Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum)

Shrubs, herbs and edibles can also be divided.

• Chives and garlic chives (Allium schoenoprasum, Allium tuberosum)
• Euonymus (Euonymus)
• Hydrangea (Hydrangea)
• Lilac (Syringa)
• Mint (Mentha)
• Oregano (Origanum)
• Raspberry and blackberry (Rubus)
• Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
• Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)
• Spirea (Spiraea)
• Strawberry (via runners) (Fragaria × ananassa)
• Thyme (Thymus)

Best plant options for layering

Lightly burying flexible stems allows them to root while still attached to the host plant, leading to healthy, new offspring.

• Blackberry (Rubus)
• Boxwood (Buxus)
• Clematis (Clematis)
• Forsythia (Forsythia)
• Grapes (Vitis)
• Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
• Hydrangea (Hydrangea)
• Raspberries (Rubus)
• Spirea (Spiraea)
• Viburnums (Viburnum)
• Weigela (Weigela)

Transplant Suckers from These Plants

Root suckers provide ready-made offsets that can be separated and moved to new garden locations.

• Chokeberry (Aronia)
• Blackberry (Rubus)
• Dogwood (Cornus)
• Forsythia (Forsythia)
• Lilac (Syringa)
• Raspberry (Rubus)
• Red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
• Snowberry (Symphoricarpos)

Using stem cuttings

Hardwood cuttings from dormant wood root slowly over several months while softwood cuttings root much faster.

Hardwood:

• Currant (Ribes)
• Elderberry (Sambucus)
• Forsythia (Forsythia)
• Grape (Vitis)
• Lilac (Syringa)
• Dogwood (Cornus)
• Rose (Rosa)
• Weigela (Weigela)
• Willow (Salix)

Softwood:

• Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
• Hydrangea (Hydrangea)
• Mint (Mentha)
• Oregano (Origanum)

Best plants for autumn seed saving

Gathered in late fall, seeds can be dried and sown the following spring.

• Bachelor button (Centaurea cyanus)
• Bean (Phaseolus)
• Cleome (Cleome)
• Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Cosmos (Cosmos)
• Coneflower (Echinacea)
• Ornamental grasses
• Ironweed (Vernonia)
• Marigold (Tagetes)
• Nicotiana (Nicotiana)
• Pea (Pisum sativum)
• Pepper (Capsicum)
• Phlox (Phlox)
• Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
• Sunflower (Helianthus)
• Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)
• Zinnia (Zinnia)

Level up with these plants for grafting

Join a hardy rootstock to a favorite plant variety via grafting for better cold-climate success.

• Apple (Malus)
• Cherry (Prunus)
• Crabapple (Malus)
• Grape (Vitis)
• Mulberry (Morus)
• Pear (Pyrus)
• Plum (Prunus)
• Rose (Rosa)

Choose the best method to propagate the plant(s) you’d like to multiply and increase your blooming landscape exponentially.

Diane McGann is an award-winning writer who maintains perennial and shade gardens on 4 1/2 acres in Stillwater, Minn.