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Vegetative Propagation- Buddleia Cutting

August 31st, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Propagating new plants from existing ones is not only utterly economical, it is also one of the most satisfying aspects of gardening.

Once you are able to strike your own cuttings you move up from just being a “check book gardener”- whereby you buy all your plants to a proper gardener.

The particular shrub I am featuring here is a Buddleia. This is a wonderful shrub, which is awesome for attracting bees and butterflies. It has a distinctive scent of honey and comes in various colors, including pink, purple and a wonderful version with white petals and a gold center.

There are two important aspects of taking successful cuttings:

 * The choice of stock. As your plants will be clones of the parent plant, you should only select vigorous specimens, which are producing the flower color you want.  Taking cuttings at the right time is also important. Do this when the plant is growing well, and select a shoot which is neither too sappy and young, nor too woody and old.

 * Correct aftercare. With very few exceptions, most cuttings fail because of lack of attention. Think of your cuttings as patients in hospital that have just undergone some trauma. Keep them warm and in a suitably moist — but not wet — atmosphere to prevent transpiration.

You can view the video of the cutting here.

You must be on guard for transpiration (loss of moisture) the minute you sever the cutting from the master plant.From that moment, until it creates its own roots, all it has to live on is the moisture within it. So, immediately slip it into a polythene bag into which you have introduced some plain water (either by spraying or simply putting a spoonful of water in the bottom). Close the neck of the bag tightly and put it well out of the way of the sun’s rays.

As soon as possible, process the cutting, as shown on the video. It’s very important to be very hygienic about taking cuttings, using only clean pots and fresh compost and making the final cut on the plant a clean one with a very sharp tool, such as a craft knife or scalpel.

The original cut, when you sever the cutting from the plant can be made with secateurs and can be between leaf junctions. But the final, sharp cut should be just below a leaf joint, leaving a cutting about 3 1/2″ (8cm) long. Strip off the bottom leaves, making sure there is no odd bits left, which could rot and cause disease later.

Dip the cut end in hormone rooting power and insert into a hole in a pre-watered compost, consisting of half compost and half vermiculite, perlite (a type of porous white rock) or agricultural fine sand. I find dribbling a little fine sand in the hole helps rooting.

Then comes the important bit: keeping the cutting moist until it can fend for itself. First spray the leaves with clean water. There’s no need to water the compost as that should have already been done before you inserted the cutting. Doing it now will only wash off the hormone rooting powder.

Then carefully enclose the pot and cutting in a polythene bag with the top closed. Place the pot somewhere warm, but not too hot or in direct sunlight.

Once you see fresh growth and vigor in the cutting, that’s a sure sign you have roots. Once that is apparent, gradually open the mouth of the bag a little more every couple of days. After a week or so you can take the bag off as the plant will now be self supporting and be able to find its own moisture through its new roots.

You can now start to feed with a weak mix of seaweed or other organic fertilizer. Making the mix too strong, at this stage, would be like giving gin to a baby! Later on, you can pot the plant into a bigger pot and - later still — plant it out into the garden.

And, if you find you have taken too many cuttings, you are bound to find another skilled cutting taker with whom you can swap plants, thus increasing the range of plants in your garden and making new friends on the way!

For more information on how to grow flowers and create special arrangements, check out Cutting Gardens.

If Your Soil Is Mostly Clay, There Is Still Hope

August 16th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

It is not every time that we have the advanatage of working with ideal soil. Sometimes, we get the unfortunate disadvantage of working with soil that is made up of heavy clay particles. An overabundance of clay like this is far from the definition of the “ideal soil” to garden with.

The ideal soil is one that resembles moist bread crumbs that are rich, loose, yet a bit on the crumbly side. Working with heavy clay soil, on the other hand, is like working with thick fudge. It is cold, slippery and extremely dense.

When heavy clay soil is saturated with moisture, it can become virtually structureless. Consider quicksand as a perfect example of just how much of a lack of structure soil has that is mostly clay. Once a heavy rain session is over then the soil may even become hardened which deflects water and prevents important nutrients from reaching perennials and your other garden beauties.

Heavy clay soil is just that, heavy! This is true regardless if it is wet or dry. If you are digging out heavy clay soil areas, it will eventually begin to feel like you’re shoveling heavy metal balls. Far too many perennials can be prevented from blooming due to poor drainage that heavy clay soil can cause. Much of the water that is produced after a heavy rain can end up bunched in a puddle, which perennials do not take kindly to, and can perish.

Advantages of clayey soil
Although the outlook looks grim, there are a few advantages to working with clay soil when compared to lighter type soils. Clay is abundant with nutrients and it does retain water well which can complement certain gardening situations. And you can take advantage of this high nutrient-based clay soil by simply adding organic matter to the mix.

Organic matter can remedy the soil from its gardening unpleasantness and change it to a soil that requires less water, as well as less fertilizer than a sandy or silt soil would need.

Create More Sunlight For Your Garden

July 30th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

When it comes to planting perennials in a densely shaded garden area, you do have slightly fewer perennials in which to choose from planting, as opposed to working with lots of sunlight. However, there are some upsides that many gardeners do not consider. For example, people that live on shaded properties enjoy the benefits of having cooler and more comfortable areas to relax in.

In addition, having your property underneath heavy shade lowers the temperatures of your house during the hot summer months. And when it comes to those windy days and nights, your house generally does not suffer from the high winds because of the surrounding structures that are blocking the wind, and are typically built high enough to cause the shade to begin with.

Arranging Your Property To Let In More Light
You may want to consider creating more sunlight so that you can have the option to plant more perennials that will benefit your design. Your options of course depend on what structures exist that are hovering and causing the dense shade in the first place. For example, if you have a mass of overcrowded trees then you can remove some of the larger limbs to bring in more light. You could even opt to remove more of the smaller limbs from these trees which can help more sunlight to come in from the sides.

Please use caution as cutting trees can be quite dangerous, especially if you are working alone. There are plenty of tree cutting services that can remove the entire stumps from the ground if need be. What’s more beneficial about hiring a professional to take care of your tree removal is that they can also help determine which trees would be most ideal to discard by analyzing your sunlight needs. These professionals are called arborists.

Beware Of Tree Roots
Tree roots from the trees that remain in your garden area can become quite a problem for some perennials. Why? Because many woodland flowers prefer to thrive in rich soil that has a large percentage of humus. Humus is made up of decomposed organic matter such as old tree bark, leaves, and plant remains.

Tree roots become “competitors” and will essentially absorb as much of the moisture and nutrients from the soil as possible. Unfortunately for your flowers, there is little left by the time these nutrients can reach the top to feed your plants.

When attempting to fix this problem, many gardeners make the mistake of piling new soil on top of the depleted soil. They may even try to remove the roots entirely. This can be a problem because you may cause severe damage or even kill your trees. Of course you can add a little bit of loose topsoil under a tree or dig up if you roots here and there, but if you go too excessive in the attempt to bring more nutrients to your plants, you may face the loss of your beautiful trees.

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