A number of garden/landscape plants are easy to propagate if you would like a few more of the same type. This time of year, it’s possible to multiply strawberries by pulling new starts off the runners that survived the winter, and setting them in a new location with the bottom of the start pressed firmly into moist soil. Raspberries, elderberries, lilacs, gooseberries, currants, rhubarb, plums, comfrey, chives, chokecherries, color-twig dogwood shrubs and forsythia can have offsets divided from the root base to multiply the plants. This simple method simply requires using a sharp spade to sever a new start from the outer edge of the main plants root ball. Even with only minimal roots to support an offset, it’s possible to plant these little starts and get good success by pruning down the top growth until more roots can form.
Serpentine or tip layers are effective for most brambleberries (raspberries, blackberries, thimble berries, salmon berries, etc.), cane growers or vines this time of year as well. Bend down the pliable stems of such shrubs and scrape the bottom side before burying it beneath the soil. Leave the tip exposed if you’re serpentine layering, but if you simply want a tip layer, bury the whole end of the stem. Forsythia, clematis, honeysuckle, beauty berry, weigela, hydrangea, Virginia creeper, Boston Ivy, grapes, hops, and countless other plants are effectively propagated this way. The new starts will be ready to dig at the end of the growing season (August or September) and able to grow in a new location by that time.
Comfrey, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, and other heavy-rooted perennials are effectively multiplied through root cuttings in spring as well. Dig up the main plant, cut large roots into chunks 2-6 inches and plant them “top end up” to get more of these plants.
Most plants that grow well from seed need some kind of stratification (cold treatment) or scarification (etching of the seed coat whether with acid or by mechanical means so water can be absorbed). Berries are fairly easy, mash fruit through a sieve and wash all the pulp from the seeds before placing seeds in a Ziploc bag with a slightly damp paper towel. Blueberries can even be frozen for 90 days break down the enzymes that inhibit their germination. If the seeds need etching (check good references at your library or local extension office for specific varieties that need this treatment), put it in a blender with a cup or two of water and blend it on high for 10 seconds. Vinegar can mimic the stomach acid of animals that etches seed coats in wild conditions. (Seeds that are eaten by animals pass through their digestive system and germinate better when deposited in little “fertilizer” piles throughout the forest.) Soak seeds in diluted vinegar for half an hour or more to ensure the seed coat is penetrated. Then plant as usual.
Once your seeds germinate, it’s important to thin them as soon as you can determine the most vigorous seedlings to keep. If you do that, you’ll have a good chance of getting new trees, shrubs and perennials to fill your beds.
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