How to Take Hardwood Cuttings
If you love a particular shrub in your yard, why not have more of it? Given the right conditions, many plants will root from stem cuttings in spring or summer, or in winter from pieces of root.
- Excerpted from How to Grow Practically Everything
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Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-Dorling Kindersley - How To Grow Practically Everything © Dorling Kindersley Limited 2010
It can take two or three years for a shrub grown from a cutting to reach flowering size, so take a few each year for a constant supply of new plants. If you don't have room for them yourself, your gardening friends will appreciate a gift.
These are the easiest cuttings to grow, but you need patience, as rooting can take more than a year. Find a sheltered spot where the cuttings won't be disturbed. Use this method for deciduous shrubs, trees, roses and fruit.
Suitable Plants
boxwood
butterfly bush
deutzia
dogwood
elder
forsythia
flowering currant
mock orange
rose (including bush types)
spirea
viburnum
weigela
willow
Take a Healthy Stem
In autumn, select straight stems, about the thickness of a pencil and with plenty of buds, taken from the current year’s growth. Strip off any leaves and side shoots. You may be able to take several cuttings from a single stem.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-Dorling Kindersley - How To Grow Practically Everything © Dorling Kindersley Limited 2010Cut Into Sections
Make individual cuttings about 10 inches long. Cut straight along the bottom just below a bud, and make a slanted cut above a bud at the top. The cuts differentiate the top from the bottom, and allow you to plant the right way up.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-Dorling Kindersley - How To Grow Practically Everything © Dorling Kindersley Limited 2010Plant in Ground
Make a narrow V-shaped trench by inserting a shovel about 8 inches in the soil and pushing it forward. Insert cuttings 6 inches apart, leaving a few buds above the surface. These will form the branches of the new shrub. Firm lightly, label and water.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-Dorling Kindersley - How To Grow Practically Everything © Dorling Kindersley Limited 2010Excerpted from How to Grow Practically Everything
© Dorling Kindersley Limited 2010
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