Here's a thread from the UBC Botanical Garden about the propagation of Dogwoods, specifically Cornus florida.
Interesting reading.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Dogwoods

I assume you are talking about red twig dogwoods. If so, then the following link provides info about hardwood cuttings for propagation.

The following website from the Tautons Gardening website says they can be propagated from hard wood cuttings, softwood cuttings, and seeds.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/plantguide/cornus-alba-cvs-red-twig-dogwood.aspx

Having grown both the yellow and red twig dogwoods in the past, I find that they sucker easily so you might be able to nibble away a sucker to get a new plant although I have never done this before.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Twig Dogwood

Yep, it's red twig dogwood. Sorry.

You can propagate Red Twig Dogwoods by taking hardwood cuttings in late fall. To do this, cut a stem that is about the thickness of a pencil. Cut the stem with bypass pruners into six to nine inch sections. Cut each section so there is a bud just below the top of the cutting and just above the bottom of it.

What is a bypass pruner? What does the author mean when he said six to nine inch sections? I'm sorry, I understand it a little but a picture will help me a lot. :)

Thanks!

Both Cornus alba and C. sericea are very easy to strike from cuttings - some growers simply take 8-10" long cuttings and stick directly into soil in fall or winter. Otherwise softwood cuttings can be done anytime the plant is in leaf.

Because both are suckering shrubs, theoretically one could divide the rootball to generate additional plants. However, unless the plant was well established or a brand new planting, I'd not be inclined to something so severe, but any existing suckers could be liberated, much as Miguel describes.

You could probably also propagate red-twig dogwoods by layering. Bend over stems to the ground and bury a portion of the stems while leaving the top end of the branch, or growing tip, out of the soil, and eventually the part of the branch buried in the ground will develop roots, and the branch can then be off of the main plant and the newly rooted plant can be dug up and replanted.

I'm very interested in gardengal48's suggestion since it's very easy. Will it still work here in Chicago especially we are now in the low to mid 20s?

I guess, I'll just have to do it in spring. This way, severe cold temp won't hurt it.

Both species of twig dogwood are very cold hardy. It certainly won't hurt to give it a try now, as long as the soil is not frozen. An alternative is to take the cuttings and strike them in a container full of just moistened potting soil. You can keep them in the garage with your hydrangeas :-) It is pretty easy to determine when the cuttings have taken - there will be resistance when you give them a gentle tug, indicating root development, but I wouldn't expect to see much happen over winter.

To answer your previous questions, bypass pruners are those that have blades that move smoothly by each other, like scissors. These provide a very clean, sharp cut. Anvil pruners have a single sharp blade and flattened receiving blade. These tend to squash the stems......not what you want with a cutting. And I wouldn't worry making multiple cuttings from a single stem. You'll get just as good results (perhaps better) by simply using the top 8-10" of each stem as your cutting material. There's bound to be at least one bud in this section, if not more. You do want to take multiple cuttings using multiple stems however, as there is always a percentage that do not take or root.

Ok, I would like to try it. :) I'm thinking of cutting the stems near the wall. This way, the planted dogwood will still look good.

Is it good to make two 10" from one long stem?

So in spring, am I correct that I plant them in groups like 8 to 10 stems per 10 inch diameter?

You could do a couple of ten inch cuttings from one stem. Once they have rooted and are ready for planting out I would plant each one separately as they will sucker and eventually send up multiple stems.I take dogwood cuttings to use in my winter pots with spruce tips for holiday decorations. Since I can't pull them out of the frozen pots after the holidays they stay there till the soil has thawed in spring, usually sometime in April. Most years almost all of the dogwood cuttings have begun to root. I'm sure that if I left them another month or two they'd be well rooted and ready for growing on. Good luck.

Awesome! Do I need to scrape the skin a litte from the part that will be in the soil? And also, do I need to cut it diagonally?

Good luck, mine are outside in pots and as I said, will be there until probably mid April or so.

I did tuck some as well outside. :D I'll check if it will make it. I'll just transplant them in spring.

Interesting! I have some redtwigs in need of pruning and I'm going to try a combination of these methods. I have some two or three foot tall suckers coming off mine I plan on cutting free in early March I suppose.

I brought them all out. I always forget to water them once every 2 weeks. They're still looking good. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

As promised, here is the pic of my dogwood experiment.

{{gwi:282742}}

hostaholic2,

I went out to check the cuttings that I directly put to the ground. 80%-90% of the stem are brown. Now, I am worried about my redtwig in pots that I put outside recently. They might die as well. :(

Hi v1rtu0s1ty,
How are your cuttings in the pots doing?

I want to try to get a cutting from a red dogwood bush that my development has in the common area. (After I buy some rooting hormone).

I was wondering if I should stick it in a WS container (milkjug)? The bushes are already lopped off so I will only be able to get a fairly short cutting.

Thanks!
ajpa

hi ajpa,

The cuttings are still looking good. :)

Here is the latest pic.

{{gwi:282743}}

Cool!
I'm going to try to sneak myself a cutting.

Thanks!

hahaha! Good luck! :)

By the way folks, I saw a shrub that looks very very similar to redtwig dogwood last week. However, the colors of the stems are lighter red. It stands up like a redtwig dogwood but looks like that the ones I saw grew new stem on top.

What could be that plant?

It could be a willow. Coral Embers is a variety of willow that has nice redish stems. They're very easy to root in water.

Hey token, looks like it's Coral Embers!!! :D That was a great guess! It really looks like the one I saw.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coral Embers on google

Mission accomplished! Red-twig dogwood cuttings acquired.
I even wore shades when I took it (hey, it was windy).

Here's hoping they root!

LOL!

Anyways, my redtwig dogwood cuttings experiment was a success!!! They are showing some small leaves now. :D

Woohoo!!!

See, they are easy to propagate.

Thanks hostaholic2! :)

Now, here is my question. In each pot, I think I put like 5 to 8 stems. When I plant them in their final destination, should I separate them or just plant one whole pot in hole?

Thanks!

Hello you all have such great advise....I need some help wity my red twig dogwoods....I'm not sure what to do but they all are newer but growing from one singular brownish stem more like a teee than a shrub..how can I fix this???

The red colouration is strongest in new growth. Old stems gradually become normal 'wood' colour. Yours is doing just that. Cut the shrub to the ground every couple of years and don't let it grow on a 'leg'.

• I was wondering this same tging. I bought 3 sigle ones rooted and put in a pot. Should they be planted together or seperate. Will each one form a bush like the parent one or is each one like a sucker and can be planted together to make it look like a bush.

PARENT BUSH

the 3 single porpagated ones. I planted

• 
  v1rtOriginal Author12 years agoThanks hostaholic2! :)Now, here is my question. In each pot, I think I put like 5 to 8 stems. When I plant them in their final destination, should I separate them or just plant one whole pot in hole?Thanks!Liked | 1
  Save