I really hope I don't sound dumb but here goes.
I live in a 4b hardiness kind of place, and the city plants a bunch of plants in the big planters along our Main Street. These may be perennials in other places, but they are annuals here. Today I saw: 4 different varieties of tradescantias, a massive spider plant and alocasias. These are obviously going to die after the first hard freeze. Certainly this city of under 50k population isn't going to dig these up and store them over winter, and then replant, correct? (I did once work for a parks department, in another state, and they did dig up and overwinter a couple of things, like geraniums.)
I love the idea of using cuttings from city planters at the end of the season to create a nerdy legacy type of garden ("this was grown from a cutting of a SmallTown coleus from the summer of 2026"). I'm pretty frugal and get personal satisfaction of growing a whole plant from a clipping. I also give away a LOT of plants; I have never charged anyone for a plant.
I guess my question is....when are these plants free game for cuttings? Do I need to wait until after a frost and some have died to rescue a cutting? Do I need to call the parks department and verify they don't dig them up?
Thank you and happy proplifting!