Hi Dotty, My favorite method is cutting a 10 inch long (approx) shoot or sprout just below a leaf node, pull off lower sprouts or leaves so the node end is clean, and trim off the end where the new growth is, (clip most of the leaves off) dip the bottom (node)end in rooting hormone powder and plant in light potting mix, water, keep moist. It's a bit late in the year, I usually do this in late spring or midsummer, they will have to go in a greenhouse for the winter, I think.
Having said this, I have never done a rhodie this way. I take a low branch and anchor it to the ground half way along the branch and weigh it down with a rock. After about a year, the part on the ground sprouts roots. Then I cut it from the parent and plant. This worked for me but the mother plant died and the offspring lived! Go figure!
I also have to add that I haven't done a cutting of choisya, maybe someone else has had success.
Some plants that I have rooted easily are viburnum, forsythia, winter daphne, rosemary, roses, boxwood, lonicera, fig, bay, hydrangea, mock orange.
Hope this helps a bit!

thanks for the info. When you take the cutting, is it a new, green shoot or an older brown one? I have been wondering if this is my problem... I will try the cistus using your instructions, it needs pruning anyway and at this point, I've got nothing to lose.
Dorothy

Dotty, a tip I was given about taking cuttings of shrubs, take a cutting after the shrub has flowered and is putting on new growth. You want a piece that is mature enough to bend without snapping. Somewhere in my muddle of papers, books, folders etc. I have a month by month chart of when the best time to take cuttings of numerous shrubs, if I unearth it I'll get in touch.

A.

It should be somewhere in between fresh green soft growth and hardened twigs. If you just try a bunch you kind of get a feel for it after a while. I stick a bunch in a pot and check them in a month or two, throw out the dead ones.

If you don't have a copy already, check out Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants at the library. This pretty much covers the gamut of potential trees and shrubs and offers detailed propagation methods including when and how to take cuttings. It will vary considerably depending on the specific plant in question.

Another excellent resource is Ken Druse's Making More Plants. This text specifically addresses cuttings on a wide range of plants as well as other common methods of propagation including grafting, dividing and layering. As you may already know, some plants are easily grown from cuttings - others are very difficult to propagate by this method and are best approached differently. If this topic is of interest to you, I would add one or both of these texts to your personal library.

Thanks all, I'll be using your hints and giving things a try. And, thanks, Gardengal, I'll certainly get the books from the library.

As long as we're talking propagation books, I'll mention my favorite - Peter Thompson's 'Creative Propagation'.

A great many plants root the best in fall. I take cuttings of semi-hardened growth and strip off more than 1/2 the lower leaves. I place them in small 4" pots with a rooting media of about 3 parts perlite, 1 part peat, and set them outdoors on bottom heat (such as those 'seedling heat mats' available at some garden centers. Keep them moist and in bright open shade (or mostly shade).