There are many shrubs which can be increased from hard-wood cuttings, some of them include Camus alba, stuloniferu, forsythia, garrya, laburnum, philadelphus, privet, ribes, sambucus, tamarix and willows. After I have taken the cuttings the next step involves removing the shoots with a heel of older wood attached.

Then this is further trimmed to get it nice and smooth. Thereafter I simply cut off the tip of the shoot, just above a bud to get a cutting of approximately about 9 to l0 inches in length. Some gardeners often prefer to cut the base of the shoot just below the joint of a leaf.

These cuttings should be avoided in the case of weak or spindly shoots. This should be strictly avoided. Inserting the Cuttings involves identifying the hard-wood cuttings that are rooted in the open ground.

You need to try and select a sheltered situation for them, which would be a better option. The easiest and the best possible way to insert them is to make a trench. For this, you need to keep one of the sides vertical. However, it has to be sufficiently deep or deep enough to allow the cuttings to be inserted to about two-thirds of their length. If the soil is very light and well drained out it is okay otherwise placing a layer of coarse sand all along the bottom of the trench would be the right thing to do. Before I insert the cuttings I dip the base of each one of them in a hormone rooting powder.

They are then placed along the trench, against the vertical side and approximately about 2 inches apart, with the base of each of them cutting in close contact with the sand. Then the soil is returned to the trench and the cuttings are firmed thoroughly. In case frost loosens the cuttings they should be re-rooted as soon as possible, otherwise there is every chance that they may not form roots.

Let them remain in the bed until the season of autumn of the following year. Then they can be lifted and planted out into a nursery bed, about l foot apart in rows 2 that are set feet apart.

The trauma that is associated with change of climate, and environment is the same as that which other beings go through. Therefore when a seed that you have so lovingly planted germinates and the seedlings tentatively stick out their little shoots out of the ground, it becomes a matter of celebration and happiness.

To see it grow to its full form is wonderful. It is the same with cuttings. Planting cuttings is the most widely used method of propagation of trees and shrubs.

There are 2 main types of cuttings, each requiring a different technique and rooting condition:

1. the half-ripe cutting which is done during summer
2. the hard-wood cutting which is done during autumn.

After planting a cutting, the gardener waits to see the first tender growths of green on the stems. This would mean that the experiment has been successful and you will have in your garden a plant that you admired and which carries with it all the memories of the place you got it from.

Grafting is a common method of propagation. You can experiment a great deal with plants using grafting techniques. The basic principle in grafting is that the tissues of one plant fuse with those of another. Of the 2 plants uses, one is selected for its roots –called the stock- and the other for its stems, leaves, flowers and fruits – called the scion.

When the tissues of the stock and the scion fuse together the graft is said to be successful. There are many kinds of grafting: cleft, stub, awl, veneer, and renewing fusion. In natural grafting the roots come into contact with each other and start growing together, Thus a large root mass is formed which is beneficial to all the plants whose roots have joined.

A special form of grafting is budding in which a single bud of the plant that you like is inserted into the stock. Division is a kind of propagation in which plants are separated from the parent plant. Another method of propagation is called layering. Here the roots of a chosen plant are made to form on stems that are part of the main parent plant. Once the root has fused with the stem, it is cut and then planted separately.

A modern technique of propagation is by tissue culture. Surfaces of living plants are cut, sterilized and placed in chemical solutions rich in plant nutrients. With careful tending plant shoots finally emerge and are sliced off and rooted to produce what is called a plantlet. This plantlet when mature is transplanted to the potting soil to allow it to grow as a normal plant.