I’ve been taking cuttings of favourite plants/shrubs for years, with variable success, but was wondering about how to tackle aeoniums.
I have a great track record of killing these, mainly because I haven’t over-wintered them properly, but the one remaining one of some rather specialones that were a present last year now has babies.
The friend who gave them to me said that she thought you have to leave the stalks to dry a bit before planting. I know I can search Youtube etc but have recently fallen foul of some terrible advice on there so thought I’d ask you experts!
They normally take easily - sandy compost press into the compost don’t let them dry out completely.
Winter I think it’s damp more than cold that kills them. We treat ours with contempt and they survive -10 in well drained troughs or the rocky soil - but die in good soil.
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OH did some a few weeks ago. She let the cuttings dry out for a few days until a crust formed and then put them in water. In a couple of weeks they rooted and they have now been potted up.
The reason they are left to dry for a few days is that supposedly it prevents them from rotting off.
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Thanks very much @chrisell and @ChrisK - most interesting.
I will admit to bringing them indoors over the winter - well into the barn anyway! Problem is there is very little light and I tend to forget to water them. Being in Normandy with wet winters, several plants struggle.
There are several babies so I think I’ll try a few direct into sandy compost and a few using the “dry out the stems” approach and see what happens. It would be very nice to actually create some new ones rather than killing off the parents as usual 
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