Growing Tips

How to Make Softwood Cuttings

Several kinds of desirable plants can be started from softwood cuttings taken between mid-June and mid -July.  These include evergreen azaleas, roses, deciduous magnolias, forsythia, viburnum, English Ivy, Pyracantha, abelia, privet, mock orange and butterfly bush.

A softwood cutting is one taken from new growth.  New growth roots quicker than older root growth usually in 8 to 10 weeks.  A fast rooting process is vital to a cutting’s survival since it can only live a limited time without roots.  This is why it is almost impossible to root a branch that has been broken or cut off a shrub or a cut Christmas tree.  Making cuttings from these plants involves trying to get roots from wood that is at least two years old.  For best results, select cuttings from young wood that snaps like fresh string beans.  If the cuttings are soft and rubbery and do not snap, they are not suitable.

Plenty of moisture is also essential if the cutting is to survive.  When the air around the cutting is moist, the leaves give off much less moisture, thus reducing the chances of wilting.  It is possible to create a miniature greenhouse by enclosing the potted cutting in polyethylene plastic.  Plant the cutting in a pot and completely enclose the pot with plastic.

Since the plastic is permeable to air and impermeable to water vapor, carbon dioxide and oxygen can flow in and out, and water vapor can be retained inside the plastic.

For small lots of cuttings, use clean clay pots of about 6" in diameter.  Each pot should hold about 6 cuttings.  A good mixture for rooting the cuttings is 1 part sphagnum peat, 1 part clean sand, and 1 part vermiculite or perlite.  Early morning is the best time to take cuttings.

With a sharp knife, make the cut about 1/4" below a node (the junction of a leaf and stem).  Remove the lower leaves, leaving two or three at the top.  Cuttings should be planted immediately, but they can be stored for a few days in a slightly moist plastic bag in the refrigerator.  A hormone can be used to speed rooting, - Rootone or Hormodin.  In about eight weeks, check the cuttings to see if they are rooted.  When roots are about one inch long, the cuttings can be planted in individual pots or in the garden outdoors.  Shade them for a week or two after transplanting to help them become established.  Don’t forget to keep them watered!

Written by Doris Crowell, Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc.

Heirloom Roses

I bet you would be hard pressed to find a gardener that hasn't tried growing roses.  Part of the experience of growing modern day roses is dealing with root stocks suckering and crowding out the pricey hybrid tea rose you planted, spraying for black spot, and having to do a lot of maintenance to make them look good.

Well, one of the latest trends in rose growing is to go back to the basics and grow heirloom roses.  Although most rose enthusiasts had heirlooms in the garden, the majority of gardeners didn't.  The Texas Rose Rustlers brought attention to heirlooms.  According to the Texas Rose Rustlers, at the beginning of the 20th century, there were more than 10,000 varieties of these wonderful old roses in commerce.  But times and preferences changed in the 1930's and 1940's, and only about 2, 000 of these beautiful, hardy, and cre-free varieties of roses are still known to exist today.  You can imagine then how many were available in the 1980's when this group was formed.

The scarce amount of these "old roses" out there are typically growing in little known cemeteries and along country roads, and still thriving in older neighborhoods and at abandoned home sites.  The fact that they are thriving and growing in these areas is a testimony to their hardiness.

Most heirloom roses are grown on their own roots rather than being grafted on a rootstock like hybrid Tea roses.  Own root roses have many advantages.  First they typically are more winter hardy.  They freeze to the ground and still sprout back in the spring from their own roots.  They also have a longer life span.  The catalog for the company, Heirloom Roses, says that the typical grafted rose has a life span of ten years.  Own root roses can live to 100+.

But don't think that you need to "rustle" rose cuttings from cemeteries or old home to get these roses.  There are many companies out there that specialize in these old roses.  Do an internet search for "heirloom roses" to find some nurseries or go to local botanical gardens and take advantage of their libraries to find sources.  Add an heirloom rose to your garden next year, and enjoy their blooms, fragrance (which most hybrids don't have), and their carefree upkeep.

Excerpted from Horticulture Tips, Salisbury Garden Yearbook, VFGC, Inc.