Photos and Text by Carla Burgess | March 2008

• Introduction
• Identifying growth stages
• Growing medium & Rooting aids
• Taking and sticking the cuttings
• Tending the cuttings
• Tips & Tricks & Resources
• Download the FULL article as a

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Taking cuttings is an inexpensive way to multiply some of your garden favorites or to propagate a friend’s or neighbor’s plant that you’ve been admiring. In addition, it may be the only way to obtain plants that are hard to find or lost to the nursery trade. To produce a plant that has identical characteristics (such as bloom color), the only way to ensure an exact copy, or clone, is to propagate it using vegetative techniques such as by rooting a stem cutting.

Many kinds of woody plants are fairly easy to grow from stem cuttings, if you follow a few guidelines. Start by learning a bit about the propagation requirements of the species you select, as some will not produce roots via stem cuttings.

It’s critical to take the cutting at the right time. Depending on the species, plants will root in either or all of the following stages of growth: softwood, semi-hardwood or hardwood. Forsythias and camellias, for example, may be propagated from softwood, semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings. Blueberries, on the other hand, are best rooted from softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings. Take your cue from the growth stage of the plant, not the calendar.