It’s baby making time in the garden, the shame of it all is that there is no sex involved whatsoever. Big bummer for the plants, but if you’d like you can drink a glass of wine or maybe have a nice dinner and hum some Barry White while you help along in assexual baby making.

Here is the quickie “how to” for a few plants that are in the mood right now for crankin’ out the offspring.

Lots of shrubs and  vines are primed  in June to get “layered”. Here in my garden  I am doing the very handsome Flamingo Willow (salix integra) and  some hydrangeas as well as as many clematis as I can get to. (Some others are rhodies, forsythia,summersweet , boxwoods, honeysuckles,dogwoods, mock orange,) 

 To layer, take a branch, or in the case of the clems one single vine, that has a lot of new growth on it, and cut a small nick in it with an exacto knife or similar tool. Bend the branch or stem to the ground and place the nicked area touching the soil. (You can put a little soil over the layer as well but I don’t always) Hold it down touching the ground using a rock or a landscape pin if you have one. Water, and  that’s it, no spooning or deep conversation necessary. Just leave and come back in the fall and carefully check around in the soil to see if there are roots. If you see some you can cut the stem or branch from the mamma and transplant the baby. I generally leave mine until the following  spring to give them a longer time to develop a good root system though.( Iam also better at remembering to water transplants in the spring )

Clematis ALWAYS needs to be left in the ground after root formation and separation from the mother plant for a YEAR before transplanting, or if you are the attentive type you could dig it out and nurse it in a pot for a year. That is too needy for me, I don’t care for the clingy type.

Old fashioned climbing roses ( the ones that grow on their own roots and are not grafted) are the ultimate in one night stands. I don’t even know mine’s name, yet I propagate it like mad. Right now  they are in bud about to bloom, so I just take a 3-4 inch cutting from a stem that has a bud(s) on it and trim off everything except one bud. I push the stem into the ground where I want it to grow and cover it with an inverted mason jar or a similar glass you sort of screw in the soil so it won’t fall over , water and leave until fall. This method is great under a large shrub  because you will not disturb any roots transplanting a full grown plant and  by next year you will have a rose rambling through your bush. I did this last year under  my pussy willow bushes ( um just reporting the facts here, get your mind back over with me in plant world) and I would have them blooming except for the f***n  rabbits. (excuse the language but my frustration grows exponentially every day).

you can see what blooming here this week under “What’s Blooming” …June 7th

Happy Baby-Making!

Cheryl