ROCK GARDENS

Rock, Marsh, Shrubs in the Garden
Plants 11

A glass covering is, therefore, necessary. Cuttings of soft-wooded plants strike best when they have not too much foliage to bear, and should have the stems shortened to two or three joints beneath the point from which the foliage springs. Never make the cuttings longer than necessary. In the case of the less hardy plants the soil should be stored in a warm greenhouse for a few days before the cuttings are inserted, and rooting will be more certain and prompt if the cuttings are watered with lukewarm water and one of the new solutions. There are several plants, like the pansy or the honeysuckle, whose stems, when mature, are hollow and useless for ordinary cuttings. In such cases the young shoots must be struck, and these taken with "heel" or at anode. Shrub cuttings may be taken at three distinct periods, first in autumn when the wood has hardened and is quite mature; secondly in September. turned upwards to check the flow of the sap, and all buds not required to form shoots in the new plant should be removed. When the layers have rooted firmly, they may be cut away from the parent plant, potted up or planted out, preferably in the autumn. The layers of most soft-wooded plants will be found to root in six weeks or so; shrubs like the veronica will take two or three months to form roots; while with hard-wooded shrubs, like the daphne or rhododendron, it will be a year or more before the layers are ready to be severed from the parent plant. This is, perhaps, the most simple method of propagation, though only possible with certain plants, namely those that throw out long thin stems or runners which grow out over the surface of the ground. At intervals along these stems will be found joints, and wherever one of these joints comes in contact with the soil and so remains for some time, roots form and foliage is thrown up. To assist in this method of propagation, the earth should be stirred up to a depth of two or three inches all round the plant and the runners must be firmly pegged down into it, at the required number of joints. Young roots will form and after a few weeks they will be strong enough to support the new plant which may be cut away from its parent, and potted up or transplanted. A better method, but one entailing a little more work, is to sink to their rims pots of good sandy soil exactly under the joints of the runners and to peg the latter down firmly to the soil in the pots. This operation provides an easier way of transplanting and one that is beneficial to the young plant, as the roots are not then so easily injured when replanting. Offsets afford yet another means of propagation suitable to many herbaceous perennials and to many alpines.

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