How Do Shrubs Reproduce?

Layering

• Layering is a simple method of propagating or reproducing a shrub that can be carried out on virtually every kind of plant, whether deciduous or evergreen. Bend a supple branch of the shrub to ground level. Anchor it down by means of a staple or a rock and allow it time to put down roots. After a few months, when roots have been established, the plant can be severed from the parent and planted it its permanent home.

Cuttings

• Softwood or greenwood cuttings are usually taken in the spring when there is fresh, new growth on shrubs. Use a sharp knife to cut off a green twig, making sure that there are two leaf nodes on the twig. Dip the sliced end of the twig in rooting hormone and then into a container filled with a soilless mixture. Firm the mixture down, cover the cutting with a plastic bag to ensure humidity and place the container in a saucer filled with water. In a few weeks, roots will have formed and the cutting can be placed in its new garden home.

Grafting

• Grafting is an old technique that is most often carried out on shrubs that are difficult to propagate or reproduce in other ways, or will not grow true to seed. There are four different types of grafting but essentially what happens is the scion (or the top half which flowers or fruits) is joined to the stock (usually a hardier shrub). The cambium or plant tissue that is just under the bark of the scion and stock is carefully cut, lined up and taped together until the graft takes. When the callus which occurs at the graft site seems to be swelling against the tape that is around it, it is time to remove the tape and exult in the new shrub!

Division

• Some shrubs, such as lilacs, often produce offshoots around the mother plants. These offshots can easily be severed with the help of a sharp-edged shovel and potted up or transplanted to another section of the garden. Shrubs are usually divided in the fall when plants are going dormant or in early spring when new growth is just beginning.

Seeds

• Growing shrubs from seeds is economical but it takes a long time to grow a large shrub from a seed. Shrubs may also not come true when seeds are used. This is one of the reason why other methods are generally used for shrub reproduction. Shrub seeds usually need a three-month dormancy period. Seeds can be sown in the garden directly when the ground has thawed or in a cold frame during the fall.