Making New Shrubs for your Gar

Layering Shrubs. Making more shrubs from the ones that you already have is a fun and easy excercise. Some shrubs layer easier than others, but the method is the same.

Spring is finally showing up albeit in short doses right now. Sunday was beautiful and the yellow of spring shrubs and daffodils was everywhere. My forsythias are in full bloom, so I picked some for the house as they keep very well indoors. I noticed too that they have arched down and created roots for new shrubs. These are easy to dig up and grow, so look for these if you want to increase the number of forsythias on your property. If you have an upright forsythia that you want to take cuttings from, take one of the long branches from last year (these will be lighter in color than older branches) and bend it down to the ground. Where the branch touches the ground, cover it with soil and anchor the branch well. Leave a 2" piece at the end section of the branch above the soil A stone or, my favorite, a pin intended to secure hair rollers (find these in the hair section of your local supermarket) work well to secure branches. This way of making rooted cuttings is referred to as layering and will work very well with other shrubs as well. The roots will take a while to form though, so do not upend them too soon. When new growth appears on the exposed end section, carefully brush the soil away from the buried branch and check for roots. If the roots are several inches long, then sever the new section from the mother plant and replant your new shrub elsewhere. As with most new plantings make sure that the young shrub has plenty of water to keep it healthy over the first few months. A general guide is to anchor the branch in the spring or summer of the year and wait until at least the fall, or even the following spring before removing the cutting.

©Text by Kate Copsey, March, 2006. Reproduction without permission prohibited.