All the Dirt on Gardening

The Iowa State University Extension posted a good article on propagating house plants this week. Here is the link . Air layering Ficus They start the article with weeping fig, rubber tree and other Ficus family members. The recommended method is air layering which is a process of girdling a plant stem in order to encourage new roots along the stem at the point of injury. The photo is from a Yugoslavian wikimedia post. Garden of Eaden says they propagate these plants by air layering: magnolia, hazel, cotinus, cornus, acer, beech, camellia, chaenomeles , daphne, ficus, forsythia, hamamelis, hornbeam, jasmine, philodendron, rhododendron , azalea, lilac and viburnum . Next, the article covers dieffenbachia, Chinese evergreen and corn plant propagation by  cane or stem cuttings . University of Georgia And, one that so many of us have done in our house gardening experiments, propagating African violets from a leaf. (Also my frequently-used method of propagating begonias....

MAKE MORE PLANTS - PROPAGATE SPRING BLOOMING SHRUBS Published April 09, 2008 06:37 pm - Gardening: You can propagate softwood cuttings By Molly Day Everywhere we look right now there is something blooming. Forsythia, flowering almond, flowering quince, bridal wreath, and other shrubs grab our attention as we drive through neighborhoods. Most of these spring blooming shrubs should be trimmed right after the flowers fade to be replaced by leaves. But the removed cuttings can have a better fate than landing on the compost pile or in the trash bin. The tips of the branches can be rooted to make more plants to use in your own yard or to give to someone who just bought a home or who needs replacement shrubs. Branch cuttings taken in the spring for the purpose of propagating more plants are softwood cuttings. Softwood is not the new tender growth shrubs have now. Test for softwood stage by bending the stem near where you would be taking cuttings. If it snaps it is ready to use. If it is flex...