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Making More Shrubs
Need more shrubs? Winter is the perfect time to make them - for free!
Some shrubs are particularly easy to produce from hardwood cuttings, taken at pruning time in midwinter. Good candidates include burning bush, cotoneaster, forsythia, honeysuckle, hydrangea, mock orange, ninebark, privet, spirea and willow. Old garden roses are also easily multiplied this way.
You won't need any special equipment. To make hardwood cuttings, choose stems a quarter inch to three-quarter inch in diameter. Cut the stems 6 to 8 inches long. Use slanted cuts, which expose more area where roots can form. Tie the cuttings, right side up, in a bundle. If you're taking cuttings from more than one kind of shrub, be sure to label them.
Bury the cuttings upside down in a bucket of slightly moist sand, sawdust or vermiculite. Set the bucket in a cool, frost-free place, such as a garage or root cellar.
In spring, dip the bottom end of each cutting in rooting hormone or willow water, then plant in a nursery row in the garden for one full growing season. Water as often as necessary to keep the soil moist. The following spring, move your new shrubs to their permanent place in the landscape.
