Propagation with Hardwood Cuttings

I thought I would take a moment to talk about hardwood cuttings. It is the beginning of winter and which is also a great time to go out and try to reproduce many of your favorite woody trees and shrubs in the garden. Many plants will easily propagate through hardwood cuttings and I've included a short list below that you might like to try. Hardwood cuttings root easier than softwood cuttings (at least in my experience!)

So what is a hardwood cutting? It's a cutting taken from a mature branch of a woody plant usually during the late fall, winter, or early spring while the plant is dormant.

How do you take a hardwood cuttings? With a sharp pair of clean pruners cut a mature section of your specimen with at least 3 nodes. That is a general guideline I use and it seems to work pretty well. The best way to root a specific plant may vary depending upon the variety of plant so you may want to try a few kinds of cuttings out and see what works best.


Good Plants for Hardwood Cuttings:

• Hydrangea - these shrubs are easy rooting plants in almost any state whether hardwood, softwood or anywhere in between!
• Rose - my experience with roses has been limited but hardwood cuttings work as do semi-ripe. I have two in my house that need planted very soon!
• Viburnum - I recently took six hardwood viburnum cuttings and placed them in sand. So far so good! Semi-ripe cuttings of viburnums also root easily.
• Arborvitae - I'm still waiting for some to root...
  
• Japanese Dappled Willows - OK any willow will root easily anytime (softwood, semi-ripe, hardwood) but I really like the dappled foliage on Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki' so I'll take an opportunity to talk about it.  In the spring the foliage emerges with tints of red that gradually change as they mature into its spring through fall dappled foliage. Propagating a dappled willow couldn't be easier, just stick the hardwood cutting in the ground where you want it to grow. You can wound the bark around the base if you want to help it along a little but usually you can just stick them in the ground and they will grow.
• Purple Leaf Plum (Prunus) - I've had a lot of success with purple leaf plum hardwood cuttings. These are beautiful trees in the spring with their white flowers and have nice purple foliage throughout the year. In our yard these were the second to last of the trees to lose their leaves.  Other members of the prunus genus may also be worth trying some hardwood cuttings. I managed one Yoshino cherry from a hardwood cutting last year.
• Red Twig Dogwood/Red Osier Dogwood - I love red twig dogwoods! I'll be taking some more cuttings from several of our red twig dogwoods very soon. They look fantastic planted enmass or with an evergreen backdrop. I have two varieties of redtwig dogwood that I'll treat the same way - stick them in dirt! (Cornus alba and Cornus sericea) A little rooting hormone won't hurt but isn't needed.
• Rhododendron - I just recently took a few cuttings from my wife's aunt's rhododendron. It blooms with purple flowers and I can't wait to see it planted in our garden. I've had good success with rooting azaleas and I'm expecting good results with the rhododendrons. 
• Forsythia - Perhaps the easiest plant to propagate! Or at least a close second to willows (see above). Just stick the hardwood cuttings in soil and let them root. Softwood and semi-ripe cuttings do well also.
• Honeysuckle - I wouldn't recommend going into the woods to take cuttings of the honeysuckles growing in the wild. Most of these are invasive and really don't need out help to multiply but where I would recommend propagating honeysuckle is on the native Coral Honeysuckles or Lonicera sempervirens. Native honeysuckle is usually a red hue and isn't very fragrant but is still very popular among the hummingbirds. It's also not aggressive which is why it is being overtaken in the wild buy non-native varieties.
• Russian Sage - While technically a perennial Russian sage will propagate easily from hardwood cuttings. A few weeks before spring weather (I did this in February of last year) prune off a few branches and either stick them in the soil where you want them or treat them with rooting hormone and put them in a pot in a sheltered location.
• Spirea - This fun shrub is another easy one to propagate. Since the nodes are fairly close together I tend to take cuttings about 5-6 inches long rather than just 3 nodes. 
• Butterfly Bush - Butterfly bushes root very easily from cuttings. Softwood will work too but hardwood cuttings require less maintenance!
  

There are all kinds of plants that will root easily through hardwood cuttings. If a plant you are interested in taking hardwood cuttings from does not appear on the list above just do what I do...experiment!

Propagation Continues - Even in Winter!

On Monday while all three of my children were napping at the same time (that is a major feat!) I spent some time preparing some cuttings. Until Monday I really haven't had many opportunities to get outside and garden. The weather has been too cold and with my youngest, who doesn't seem to like taking naps during the day, I haven't been able to do much!

Since the historic napping was in progress I went out to the garage to prepare some hardwood cuttings. All the cuttings were about 6-8 inches in length and all of them were treated with rooting hormone prior to sticking. There are two differences between what I did on Monday and what I usually do. First you may notice that I used a soil mixture rather than sand. Why? It was close at hand and I had more of it. It's also lighter and contains nutrients that plants will need right after rooting. The second difference is that I placed all the cuttings into bundles and stuck them together. Bundles are an easy way to do many cuttings at one time. Each pot pictured below holds 10-15 cuttings! Two of the pots have already rooted lilacs that I divided from a mother plant and one pot holds three hardwood lilac cuttings. 

Schip Laurel, Cherry Laurel, Butterfly Bush, Leyland cypress, Purple Leaf Sandcherry, Lilacs

By using the bundles I can make many cuttings in small amount of space! Now I just need to wait and see how many root. It may be spring before I separate the rooted plants but for now they are safely resting in the garden shed!

The answer to yesterday's Guess post was the Cherry Laurel! Prunus caroliniana

5 Shrubs to Propagate in Late Fall or Winter (Hardwood Cuttings)

We're entering the middle of November which means not only is that turkey get closer to being roasted but it's also time for hardwood cuttings!  There are quite a few plants that will easily grow from hardwood cuttings and are well worth trying for any budget minded gardener.  Free plants are always a good thing right?  Well unless they're weeds...  Anyway today we'll look at a few shrubs you can easily make more of over the winter that have high chances of success.  That's not to say you will be 100% successful but these shrubs are typically very easy to root.

First though what are hardwood cuttings?  Hardwood cuttings are taken from branches that have had some time to develop a brown outer coating on the bark.  The branches have gone dormant and have dropped their leaves which allows them to focus all their energy on root development.  With hardwood cuttings you don't have to worry about leaf desiccation (a fancy word for - dying leaves caused by lack of moisture).  What you do have to worry about is excessive moisture around the cuttings.  Winters are typically more wet than the rest of the year so it is important to have well drained soil present around your hardwood cuttings.

So let's get started with the plants!

5 Shrubs to Propagate in Late Fall or Winter through Hardwood Cuttings

1.  Viburnums!  Viburnums are one of my most favorite shrubs.  Some are fragrant, some produce loads of berries for the birds, some are edible (Cranberry viburnum), some are evergreen while others are deciduous, but all are beautiful!  A 6 to 8 inch cutting is adequate for getting a viburnum to root with a hardwood cutting.

2. Forsythia.  Forsythias are one of the first shrubs to bloom in spring.  I see them in the nurseries for $20-$30 for rather small shrubs.  The thing is you can make a ton of these shrubs very fast just by sticking hardwood cuttings in the soil.  The only reason for their expensiveness is their popularity.  I highly recommend looking for the 'Kumson' forsythia.  It's a variegated form from Asia that often reblooms in the fall.

3.  Red twig dogwoods.  Everyone likes dogwoods.  Most people think of the dogwood trees that flower in the spring, but in the fall and winter the dogwoods with the colorful stems take the stage!  Red twig dogwoods root extremely easy from hardwood cuttings.  They are a perfect plant to place in front of evergreens for some winter contrast.

4.  Willows!  OK, willows are easy to root nearly anytime but fall and winter are a great times to root them with minimal effort.  Have you ever wanted to grow a willow fence?  Or a willow hedge?  Or any other willow structure?  You can get rather long pieces of willow to root for these purposes.  I've rooted many of my dappled willows in the winter just by sticking the cutting in the ground.

5. Beautyberry.  If you don't have a beautyberry you absolutely need to get one.  Callicarpa americana is the native one but there are others form Asia like Callicarpa japonica or Callicarpa dichotoma.  Most beautyberries have purple berries that are stunning in the fall but there are even some varieties with white berries or variegated leaves!

How to Take Hardwood Cuttings

To take hardwood cuttings select first year growth that has hardened off.  I usually wait until after leaf drop but if there are a couple leaves still left you can remove them and use the cutting anyway.  I try to take cuttings about 6-8 inches long with several nodes along the stem.  You can take shorter cuttings of beautyberry - perhaps around 4 inches.  Use well drained soil or medium for hardwood cuttings.  They need to stay moist but not waterlogged.  Sand beds are often used.  Simply make a raised bed with chicken wire underneath to prevent rodents from burrowing inside.  Then fill it with sand.  You can cover with plastic to help retain the moisture.  If you are in the shade you don't need to do much more than that but you may wish to paint the plastic with a light layer of white spray paint to prevent the sunlight from becoming too intense which will otherwise bake your plant material on sunny days.  Another method is to use pots and put them inside of plastic grocery store bags with the top gently tied off.  Keep them in a shady area until spring.  You will need to check your cuttings every week or so to make sure they stay moist!

None of these shrubs need rooting hormone but it can be an aid.  I never use rooting hormones on willows since it would really just be wasted.  They are just too easy to root!

Are you planning on trying any hardwood cuttings this year?

Plant Propagation Guide

Here is a little guide on various plants that you can propagate in your home garden. I've included the types of propagation where I've been successful (seeds, Layering, Division, Cuttings, etc.).  If I can do it so can you!

Propagating Perennials

Common Name	Botanical Name	Methods of Propagation
Artemisia 'Powis Castle'		Cuttings, Layering
Milkweed	Asclepias incarnata	Cuttings, Seeds
Catmint	Nepeta	Cuttings, Division, Seeds
Coneflower	Echinacea purpurea, E. paradoxa, E. augustifolia	Cuttings, Division, Seeds
Hosta		Division, Seeds (may not come true from seed)
Russian Sage	Perovskia atriplicifolia	Hardwood and Softwood Cuttings
Salvia	Salvia nemorosa	Cuttings, Seeds

 

Propagating Shrubs and Trees

Trees and shrubs can be propagated from a variety of methods.  Always get good, clean, disease free material when taking cuttings.

Common Name	Botanical Name	Methods of Propagation
Birch (River)	Betula nigra	Cuttings
Hydrangea	H. macrophylla, H. serrata	Cuttings
Hydrangea (Oak Leaf)	Hydrangea quercifolia	Cuttings, Seeds
Japanese Maple	Acer palmatum	Cuttings, Grafting, Seeds
Red Twig Dogwood	Cornus sericea, C. alba	Cuttings
Viburnum 'Shasta'	Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosa	Cuttings, Layering

 

Propagating Annuals

Common Name	Botanical Name	Methods of Propagation
Coleus		Cuttings, Seeds
Impatiens		Cuttings, Seed
Petunia		Seed

Propagating Herbs

Common Name	Botanical Name	Methods of Propagation
Basil		Cuttings, Seeds
Oregano		Division, Seeds
Stevia		Cuttings, Seeds

This page is in progress! For specific information on how to propagate plants and links to posts on some of the plants I have propagated go to this post on plant propagation for home gardeners.

5 Methods to Propagate Plants!

Here's a topic I'm a huge fan of: PLANT PROPAGATION!  I've talked about it repeatedly and those of you who have followed Growing The Home Garden over the years have seen some of my plant propagation experiments.  I thought for today's Friday Five post I would highlight the various common forms of plant propagation.  I highly encourage those of you who have never tried it before to give it a go.  Some plants are very easy to propagate and nothing can beat getting free plants for your garden!

Here are Five Methods to Propagate Plants!

1. Seeds!  Seeds are one of the most popular methods of plant propagation around.  Seeds are nature's way of making more plants and sustaining the species through the diversification of genes. Every time a seed is planted there is a chance that there will be some variations in the plant's traits which could make it more adaptable to the environment or change its appearance in some small way.  Seeds are pretty easy way to grow plants.  Often all a seed needs is good soil and adequate water.  Sometimes though the seed needs a treatment that breaks down the seed coat either called scarification or stratification.  Scarification occurs when the seed coat is scratched or nicked to allow water to flow to the embryo.  Stratification breaks down the seed coat through the use of cold temperatures and simulates winter months.  Both of these techniques simulate the natural conditions with which the seed needs to germinate.  Red bud seeds are a good example of seeds that need this treatment.  A couple months ago I planted a flat of redbud seeds I've had stratifying for a couple years. None germinated until I nicked the seed coat then within a week I had germination.  Sometimes a seed needs both treatments!
2. Division!  While it's true that a "house divided against itself cannot stand" a plant divided will create a stand.  Division is one of the easiest ways to make more plants.  In most cases simply digging up a clump of a plant and gently pulling apart the plant sections will give you a host of plants.  Daylilies and hostas and two very easy to separate plants for dividing.  Ornamental grass divide well too but due to their thicker clumps a blade of a shovel or sharp knife may be necessary.  Use water to clean off the clump so you can see the divisions more clearly.  It may also remove some of the clay that may be binding the roots together and make them easier to divide.  
3. Layering.  Layering involves pinning down the branch of a plant to encourage a node to begin forming roots.  I use layering every year since it is a nearly fool proof method to propagate plants.  Most of the time I pin a branch down with rocks that happen to be near by.  It helps to dig a mini trench where the node will be then cover the branch with soil before placing the rock on top.  After a couple months check the root formation.  If you have roots cut it away from the main plant and pot up or replant. If there aren't any roots try again! This is a great way to produce shrubs with a larger size than you could with cuttings. I really love rooting oak leaf hydrangeas with layering.  They can be tricky through cuttings but have a very easy time when layered.  I also layer a lot of viburnums.
4. Cuttings!  I love making cuttings.  The big advantage that cuttings have over layering is that you can make a whole lot more plants. The disadvantage is that they are smaller and harder to root.  The ideal size and type of cutting to take varies greatly among plants.  Some plants will root with an internodal cutting.  Others require a nodal cutting.  Some need to be greenwood while others root best as hardwood.  In general the first year's growth provides the best material for cuttings.   Cuttings can be taken from stem tips, stem sections, basal sections (close to the crown), and from the roots.  Some plants will even respond favorably to leaf cuttings!  Perennials root fairly easily and can be producing roots and new growth within a couple weeks.  Shrubs and trees take longer to root so expect about 6-8 weeks before rooting starts.  This is very general information about a wide topic so make sure you look up how to propagate a plant before you get going!  Of course you could do what I do - try and see what happens!
5. By far the trickiest way to propagate plants is through tissue culture.  I've been reading about the tissue culture method but have never attempted it.   There are some kits you can assemble to do this in your home instead of a laboratory but a sterile environment is crucial.  Tissue culture involves taking a sections of a plant and applying certain chemicals to them to create plantlets.  Once the plantlets are formed they can be put in soil to grow onto their own roots.  The advantage to making more plants this way is easy to see - massive quantities of plants can be produced.  This is how many of the nursery plants we see in the stores go from the breeder to the consumer so quickly.  Plants can only divide at their normal rate of growth and tissue culture allows the breeder to  propagate thousands of plants from just a few.  I would love to see how this is done someday in person - maybe I'll attempt it, but not anytime soon!

These are the main methods of plant propagation you will find used today.  Which propagation method is your favorite way to make more plants?

Find more Friday Five Posts here!

Rooting Viburnums from Hardwood Cuttings

Around Thanksgiving I took 6 small 4 node cuttings from a single viburnum at my in-law’s house. I don’t know what variety the viburnum but that doesn’t bother me, I can find out when the leaves begin to grow and the flowers start to bloom (which admittedly might be awhile). For now though I’ll just be happy to add six more plants to the garden.


Of the six viburnums I rooted five had nice roots starting to emerge from between the bottom two nodes. As you can see in the top picture the cuttings had four nodes that I stuck in sand with two nodes under the sand. The top two nodes and maybe the third node should develop branches and leaves.

I used rooting hormone when I took the cuttings and only used sand for the medium. I kept the cuttings in a warm and humid environment (our bathroom, my wife just loves this hobby! ;) The joke around our house is that we truly have a “garden tub” in our bathroom.). The first viburnum cutting I noticed rooting had roots about 10-14 days ago but I only recently potted them into pots in soil. That puts the time on rooting viburnums to about 6-7 weeks. I put five of the cuttings in the garage greenhouse (just a set of shelves with a plastic covering). The sixth cutting was starting to emerge with leaves and I felt it best to keep indoors until warmer weather arrives.

After I potted these viburnums and put them in the garage I took the hardwood cuttings I mentioned yesterday. There’s always something you can do in the garden!

You Don't Need Much Space to Propagate Plants

You don’t need much space to propagate plants. In fact you can propagate a bunch of plants in some very small spaces like in the containers in the picture. Together I have 5 different kinds of plants ready for rooting including red twig dogwood, rhododendron, azalea, Purple Leaf Plum Propagation, Japanese maple, and Yoshino cherry.



To me it’s amazing that you can do so much with so little. All together there are 35 cuttings placed into these two small containers. I like to use containers that look nice in the house whenever I do cuttings but I have to admit more often I find myself using recycled/reused materials. Even in a small reused (washed of course) yogurt cup you can fit 5-8 cuttings. In the above picture I’ve mixed the cuttings in no particular way but it’s a good idea to try and keep cuttings separated from each other by type. You can pretty much bet that if your cuttings were taken on the same day and are of the same kind that they will root in a similar fashion – give or take a few days. Keeping the cuttings together by type enables you to minimize the disturbance of other cuttings when you check for rooting.

By The Numbers:

Azalea Cuttings: 2
Japanese Maple Cuttings: 3
Purple Leaf Plum Cuttings: 10
Red Twig Dogwood Cuttings: 12
Rhododendron Cuttings: 3
Yoshino Cherry Cuttings: 5

I’ve never managed to successfully root a Japanese maple so I thought I would give it a try. There was a branch that needed pruned off of one of our maples and after I clipped it I divided it into 3 4-6 node hardwood cuttings. Hopefully I’ll get at least one of them to root. Many people have good luck growing Japanese maples from seed and some from air layering.

I rooted a Yoshino cherry last year from hardwood cuttings but the new little tree didn’t make it much past rooting. I think I checked the roots too often – patience is not one of my best virtues but I’m working on it! It’s one of my favorite trees and I would love to get a few to root this year.

Have you tried any hardwood cuttings this winter? It’s not too late to get a few going!

Tomorrow I hope to show you the results of some hardwood viburnum cuttings!

Creatively Pruning a Dappled Willow

This past weekend we went to visit my wife's family. On the property they have a couple Japanese Dappled Willows ('Hiroki Nishiki') that I've taken cuttings from in the past. They are several years old and have really become large shrubs stretching over ten feet tall. Needless to say a shrub this large needs a special place and if doesn't have that special place it needs pruned.


The willow needed pruned so I set about attempting to coppice the shrub. Coppicing is where you cut the shrub to within a couple inches of the ground and allow it to regrow. Usually trees that are coppiced are cut back annually but this willow never had the treatment.

I started the process of coppicing but as I cut back branches I began to see a shape emerge.

Two main branches that I tied together last year had formed a nice curve and began to reveal an interesting and somewhat symmetrical branching structure. I've seen pictures of chairs, living arbors, fences, and many more things made from willows that have been trained and creatively pruned into living sculptures which gave me an idea: since this willow was beginning to reveal something interesting, why not encourage it? I cleaned out the extra branches and trunks using a set of heavy duty lopers and gradually a willow window was carved from the unruly shrub. The window seems to highlight the grandma and grandpa statue in the garden behind it. I left the branches above the willow alone so that they could fill out with foliage and provide a small shade canopy. Anything that grows inside the window will be pruned while the above areas will be allowed to grow freely.

I moved a couple other things around the willow including a heavy stone bench and the birdbath. As long as the willow stays pruned to the two main trunks both birds and bottoms will have a place to rest!

A Bit on Willow Propagation:

I also saved some of the cuttings for rooting. I dug a hole about 6-8 inches in the soil mud and covered the bottom of the bundle. Willows don't take too long to root so I'll check them in a few weeks then pot them up or plant them where I want them. Rooting willows in bundles is a good way to root a whole bunch of them at once without spending a lot of time doing it. They tend to root well anywhere you stick them. 

I would love to try a willow structure or willow fence at some point but that will need to wait until I have a little more time!

For an update look here: Japanese Dappled Willow Sculpture in June