Colquhounia coccinea is probably barely hardy for me, but still didn't quite deserve a prized position on my limited south wall space. The first couple years of blooming were so underwhelming I was ready to deaccession it, but this year it made enough of a show to decide to keep one somewhere in the garden. It's more sensible to just put it on a (still extra warm) south slope and keep a backup plant in a pot for the next "polar vortex" winter. (hopefully not this one!)

Alas it had been there on a raised bed for a few years and I didn't think moving it was feasible anymore. Had to be layered. So I stuck 2 branches in pots back in early August. I used a technique where I stripped a bit of the bark on the branchlets and tied a tiny pea sized wad of cotton-ball-cotton around one end. Then added a few pure drops of dip n grow. This creates a concentration gradient of rooting hormone along the stem.

Before the first hard freeze in mid-November I severed them from the mothership and moved them into my garage/greenhouse. Well as you can see it's good I did two, because one worked, and another didn't. It immediately withered after being cut. The other one on the right is still going strong. I am almost certain that little flower spike definitely appeared after the layering...maybe in response to the rooting hormone?

The surrounding plants are from my last ever order from Joy Creek.