Propagating New Shrubs

For those who have limited funds for purchasing new plants, try propagating your own shrubs. It's easier than many realise.

Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii) are very easy to start either from seeds or cuttings. I find those from seed are much stronger & grow quickly. By the 2nd year, mine was already flowering. Don't prune back until the 3rd year (early spring) & then, you'll find it takes off like crazy.

Forsythia & Jew's mallow (Kerria japonica) root easily & quickly when inserted in a damp mix of soil & sand. So does rosemary & lavender. Use of rooting hormone meant for semi-hardwood will ensure better rooting. Many of these can be started in early fall & placed in a sheltered spot to be ready for planting by late spring. Just make certain the soil doesn't dry out completely.

Hydrangea root well too but should be started in summer, I found. It's also a good idea to clip the leaves in half to prevent too much moisture loss through the large leaf surface. You can place the cuttings in a shady spot (but not dark shade) till you see a bit of new growth & then bring out to give it more sun.

There are many other shrubs & perennials including vines & bulbs that can be propagated easily. For detailed information & instructions, these 2 sites are good:

Propagating Deciduous & Evergreen Shrubs, Trees & Vines with Stem Cuttings
Home Propagation of Garden & Landscape Plants

Hi Iso (we really should stop meeting like this ) Every one should learn how to propogate. They would save themselves a fortune! Bought plants are always mollycoddled (is that one word ar two?) and never do as well in the garden as home grown ones. I have split, cut,dropped,pegged and sown seed of most of the shrubs in my garden and if I cannot use them there is always someone willing to tke them off my hands. At the moment I have cuttings of Rosmarinus. o. Severne Seas and Lavandula a. Hidcote in a pot together. In anther pot suckers off my Laurus nobilis have taken quite nicely and various climbers round the garden are pegged down ready to be severed when rooted. I took semi ripe cuttings last year from my Sambucus and just stuck them in the ground. They have already started to leaf up but I will leave them a while longer to produce a good root system and I also pegged down a low growing side shoot from my Podocarpus ??? Can't remember which one. It has lovely fresh reddish colour on new growth and is a small one. There are not many shrubs that cannot be propogated from in one way or another apart from those that are grafted etc. So EVERYONE give it a go. The worst that can happen is that it won't work and all you will have lost is a bit of compost and time

That's okay, Jekka. Even when people see my printing (my writing is a scrawling text so I print as I can print faster than write), they think it's done by a man as I print in all capitals most of the time. I'm very lucky to be equally right-brained & left-brained (was tested) so my sense of logic is as strong as my artistic sense - a good combination in horticulture & science! But I am decidedly female.

I'm not so lucky to already have lots of shrubs to propagate so when I see something I like very much in someone's front yard, I gather my courage & knock on their door to ask if they'd mind sharing a cutting with me (if their shrub is large & can be easily spared a piece) or seeds from their plants. Few refuse (most are happy to show me their garden) & I will generally bring them a small thank you gift in return unless they tell me not to. I make all our own bread (lots of diff kinds) so most appreciate a loaf of home-made bread if they don't want any plants of mine in return.

Now I have a question for you since you've had lots of experience propagating plants. One I've found a great deal of difficulty with is wisteria. I know bending a piece & tagging it to the ground would work best but I can't do that when I receive a cutting. There's a beautiful deep purple/blue wisteria that grows in our town & the owner kindly has given me trimmings when he prunes his, twice now too! - but I can't seem to get them to root. I've done everything correctly that I know of with no success. Have you ever rooted wisteria cuttings or perhaps know of some tips or tricks? I really would love to have that wisteria take for me.

Also, have you tried propagating Podocarpus (yew) from seeds? Our local nursery has a few planted in pots near the entrance & I'd like to collect seeds if they germinate & grow well.

I have a tendency to get obsessive with certain plants that I like but there are so many that I like! I'd like to get many varieties of those plants to form a theme garden area but my time, space, & finances don't allow me to. Besides, I'd then have dozens & dozens of theme gardens. My grown son & I have only recently been able to buy a home of our own so little money has been left over to fix it or to extend the almost non-existent garden that was here. I've already added so much to it that my neighbours know me as the "plant lady" who's willing to share what she has.

Glad to meet another plant lady here! And while I love to learn about new plants, it's also nice to be share experiences with someone else who has a similar climate to ours & grows similar plants.

Aw shucks Iso I like talking to you too. Was actually quite glad when I found out you were female. I think we look at things slightly differently to men.
Anyways Wisteria. I don't think you can do it from a cutting. Most of the prettier modern forms are grafted because they are quite weak growers. You wouldn't get much better results from seed plus you would have to wait a really long time for rather pathetic flowers. I stand to be corrected if anyone knows different but I am pretty sure this is right. As for Podocarpus I have never tried it from seed but I think they have multiple dormancy problems so would take quite a long time to germinate. Possibly up to 2 years if you grow them in a seed bed. If you try to mimic their needs you can speed this process up by stratification in a fridge but this involves a special mixture of spagnum moss, peat and water all tied up in a plastic bag and lots of flaffing around with so many days in warm then cold usually for a month or more not forgetting to shake and turn it regularly to maintain aeration. Better to let nature do it as long as you have the patience. Just noticed you called podocarpus "yew". You don't mean Taxus do you? That is its common name in England.
I know what you mean about becoming obsessed with certain plants. Sometimes I see something growing that I just have to have. I am ashamed to say that I tend to carry a very sharp pair of nails scissors (small and discreet) with me wherever i go and they are not for cutting my nails! I justify this to myself by thinking how people never tend to prune hard enough so I am helping their plants to grow better!
If you lived closer i would quite happily share my plants with you in exchange for some home made bread...yummy!

Hi, I am new to the site. What great information! I am interested in propogating a Variegated Weigela. How do I go about this? You all mention some do better from seeds, how do you get the seeds? Do you mean buy from a store? Or get from a plant?