I took hardwood cuttings of a mock orange a few weeks ago. I put them in sand in the basement on my rack. They've already started putting out new top growth and a few have roots. I've still got plenty of shrubs in the woods, I'll have to try this method. I want to line the back yard with flowering shrubs and trees to enclose it.

Great tutorial Nell, I'm going to try this with some of my shrubs.
This method really works with perennial Asters (Michaelmas Daisies). Great way if sharing with someone through the mail :o). I usually do this in march, dig the clump, discard the center, cut the roots into small pieces that have growth buds on and either replant 3 or 4 pieces back in the hole, in 4" pots (garden club plant sale) or wash them off put them in ziplock baggies in a bit of damp paper towel and send off in the mail. I should think this should work with other plants as well. You've got rid of the soil, so there goes the weight, when the root cuttings arrive they can be potted up and grown on or planted out. This is how my daisies came from England as no soil is allowed into the country. The only other way I could have got them would have had them rooted in rock wool, this was so much simpler.

Annette

I've got a lavender crape myrtle that I cannot get cuttings to root. Every single one has rotted, including hardwood cuttings. I'm going to try this method. I wish I had known about it when I moved it a month ago.

Crepe Myrtle is one that is very easily rooted by root cuttings. That is why, once you have a crepe myrtle, you ALWAYS have a crepe myrtle! You will always have a bit of root left, even after digging the biggest root ball!

Janie

I dug my crepe myrtle up today. My hardwood cuttings have died. They're brittle and snap when I try to bend them. There's no green left in them either. Brown all the way through.

So I took cuttings from the roots. Most are 1/4" diameter with a few larger than that. I got 9 total. I potted them up and sat them outside. The rains are coming tomorrow and Wednesday. Then the temperatures will fall again. Do I need to put them somewhere to protect them from really cold weather, below freezing? I have a hoop house.

Thanks.

Can the Bush Clover shrub be propagated by taking cuttings? Or the Butterfly Bush?

My book (American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation) says softwood or greenwod cuttings of Buddleia and Lespedesa in spring and summer. Butterfly bush hardwood cuttings can be also be rooted from fall to midwinter. Seeds of both can be planted in spring.

Nell

I took a 1 foot cutting of my butterfly bush and stuck it into the ground a month ago. It's putting out new leaves now. The cutting is about 1/2" in diameter.