Now is an excellent time to line out hardwood cuttings, I just started a batch of Chloris last week. I've gotten very good results by lining out cuttings on the northern side of my shed along the dripline. The soil was ammended with some gravel and sand, then dipped the cuttings in rooting hormone and stuck them in the dirt. I've also started them in soiless mix in a container that was kept outdoors for the winter, but watering seems trickier that way. Every time I've tried them indoors, even in an unheated but well lit basement, they've died from fungal problems.

Keep your cuttings wrapped in damp, wrung out paper towels and a zipper plastic bag in the crisper of your fridge (or outside, if safe) until you can work the soil. They should last a couple of weeks that way. Give them a fresh cut below a node under water before applying rooting hormone. And don't worry about transplanting them until they've grown into each other in the spring.

HTH
Jeanne

I've been thinking about trying some dormant cuttings also. Jeanne, do you bury your entire cuttings or do you have part of the stems above ground? I have read about taking dormant hardwood cuttings of shrubs and the directions were to bundle them and bury the entire thing. I don't know what the reason is for bundling other than convenience when you want to unbury them. Seems like bundling would cause some stems to have less contact with the soil and moisture.
Linda

Linda, I don't know how cold your winters are, but I've had good luck rooting cuttings over the winter by sticking a bunch of them in pots of coconut coir or sand or even a potting mix, putting them in a shady place, mulching the ground between the pots, & keeping them well-watered.

When a hard freeze is expected, I cover them with a sheet & then a blanket.

We've had probaby about 3 nights of mid-20's freeze, & most of mine look good.

I think cuttings are supposed to do well when you put several in the same pot, but I don't know about that bundling, it seems to me that the little roots would be very fragile to separate;
in the late spring or early summer, when my cuttings have rooted, I separate them with a spoon & put them into individual pots.

Thanks, Sylvia. I took some dormant cuttngs this morning and plan to take some more. I buried the entire cuttings sideways in pots of sand. Since nothing is sticking up above the sand, I think I might put them in my unheated laundry room. I know my other cuttings which were rooted in summer usually survive the winter. I have some from two years ago which I hadn't potted up yet..they're still in sand..and they have survived temps down to 9 degrees. But I notice that cuttings rooted later in summer tend to be killed by cold more easily than ones rooted earlier. YOur insulation ideas might help me.
Linda