I recently planted a Dynamite crape myrtle on kind of an "I love the color let's see if I can get it to grow" whim. Once I told my mother, (who lives farther south in zone 6) she insisted I take a couple of cuttings off their huge red 'watermelon something' crape myrtles.

my dad accidentally cut off a bunch of the roots on these things when he was cutting them out (they were shoots off the 8 foot tall crape myrtles they have).

The shoots are probably 4' tall and have 6" or 8" of root. The soil fell off in transit back home and I have them sitting in a bucket of water in the shade.

What's the best way to try to get these to "take" and start growing?

1. Should I put them in a pot and keep them inside until next spring? I've got a couple of big pots laying around. If so, what soil mix should I use?

2. Should I go ahead and clear a spot and put them in the ground? I've got a spot that gets good sun off and on during the day; I'd probably want to improve the soil. Would building a 6" raised bed and planting them in that make any difference in survivability (I'm reading up on square foot gardening)? This subdivision has mostly clay soil; I usually mix in my own compost plus composted manure in the areas I plant stuff.