In winter, many plants stop growing and they draw all their energy back into their roots and stems. That gives us a marvellous opportunity to propagate some of these plants from cuttings - mainly deciduous and semi deciduous plants like roses, grapes, hydrangeas, wisteria and crepe myrtle. We call them hardwood cuttings and here’s how you go about it.
Start by working back from tips of the plant up to a point where the stems are woody and as thick as a pencil. Then make your cuttings with around 4 nodes and a bud growing at each one.
It’s a good idea to wound the base of the cuttings straight away with your secateurs. That helps them to form roots and you know which end is the base so you don’t plant them upside down.
You can plant these hardwood cuttings straight in the ground if you like just throw a little sand in the bottom of the hole to keep the drainage free around the cutting.
Or you can strike a heap of cuttings together in a pot. Buy a good quality striking mix for this or make your own with about 50:50 coarse river sand and coir peat.
Water your cuttings in well pop them into a shady spot and keep the mix moist but not too wet.
Once these cuttings form roots, you can transplant them into the garden and by late spring, your new plants will be absolutely thriving.
