Persian Shield are not annuals - they are tender perennials.

I looked into growing them from seed and couldnt find any last year.

I do regularly bring them inside and over winter them, but had left them out through a hard frost last year to kill off white flies which had infested them. I thought they were goners when they didnt start forming new leaves in Feb, but they did eventually come back from the roots in April.

The two I have are now 4-5 years old. One year I did take lots of cuttings from them in early spring and bordered one of my beds with them.

If you dont have yours in a pot, simply pot it up in the fall and bring it inside, it will probably go dormant for a few months, then re sprout when the days start getting longer. Take cuttings then, it will be easier than nursing them through the winter. As they get older the stems become woodier, much like Lantana (if you have over wintered them). Some people dont like that and toss the older ones after they take cuttings. Personally I like them as a small shrub.

Hardy to zone 9 although it will die back to the ground when frosted, or easy to save as a house plant over winter if you donâÂÂt mind itâÂÂs nakedness. A potted plant takes up a lot more space and I usually only have one and save the rest as cuttings in water. Even though itâÂÂs plenty warm in your house, the change of sunlight combined with the dry indoor air almost always cause this (potted) plant to go semi-dormant (sleeping.) If you are going to bring one inside, I recommend removing almost all of the leaves first, because thatâÂÂs easier than picking them up off of the floor later, and they can get crumbly when dry. Leaving 3-5 leaves at each growing tip will be plenty. Let it get a bit more dry than when it was outside actively growing. When frosts are no longer a danger, youâÂÂll have a LARGE plant to put outside, and it will fill out with beautiful new purple leaves within a few weeks, especially if repotted when replaced outside. DonâÂÂt be shy about trimming the roots.

I've been saving these plants over winter since the 90's. You can do it, either potted or water cuttings!

OK. The only thing is, that this year I bought around 25 good sized plants to hide the cement wall in front of my lily pond. They are huge now and look spectacular. So, it's not just a plant or two I need. I guess I could pot up a few and do cuttings around Feb. to get a lot of plants. If I were sure I could find them locally next year as big and as cheap as they were I'd just do that. So the seed thing is not possible?

Seeds? I wouldn't know, but would wonder how long they would take to get going. Every time I've ever bought a plant, it looked like a cutting. You're right, this is not something you can assume you'll find every year.

If you have windowsills/space right next to a window, you can save every good branch as a cutting in water, which takes up a fraction of the space.

I'm not clear on something...do you mean you leave the cuttings in water over the winter & then pot them up in the spring?

I'm not clear on something...do you mean you leave the cuttings in water over the winter & then pot them up in the spring?

Yes, here's a pic from last November of some cuttings on their way inside before frost can ruin them. I usually have some losses, but tons of plants to decorate with when it warms back up. FWIW, I've done cuttings tons of times, but never tried any as big as some of these before, don't think I'll bother again, just the smaller ones like those to the left. I think all 3 of those really tall ones on the right croaked.

Thanks for the speedy reply purple....sorry about the THREE posts...how the heck did I do that?...and is there a way to delete two of them? sigh

Glad to try to help. Works for Coleus and Perilla too!

It happens, the dupe posting thing, but why is a mystery. Did anything unusual happen when you clicked submit? Are you using an I-phone?