i am also interested in some of these but i have no luck with them either.

Thanks

Madrone

What you might try with those difficult species is what Im doing in a flat covered with dome. Do those plants put out tubers or rhizomes? I have a flat full of salvia guaranitica 3 main types and in less than two weeks time I have sprouts from several. I just used a good quality potting soil and cut the rhizomes small enough to fit diagonally and covered in the 6pack type compartments, usually having two nodes sometimes one node.

Madrone

Here is pics of my sprouts from rhizomes less than 2 weeks.

argentine skies

{{gwi:1178801}}

argentine skies
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salvia blue ensign
{{gwi:1178803}}

hummersteve - all the species madrone is having trouble with are shrubs, so no tubers or rhizomes to propagate from. Ceanothus is the only one I have tried and it is known to be quite tricky. Berberis should be pretty easy from hardwood cuttings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ceanothus propagation

Thanks flora and hummersteve for the input. I will try taking hardwood cuttings from the Berberis. Do you put them on bottom heat or just in trays in a cool greenhouse? hummersteve, I am quite successful in propagating with tubers and rhizomes. Its just the ones I mentioned that I want to increase my strike rate.