Red Twig Dogwood Propagation

This week I was excited to find that something I had given up for lost actually worked. I took some cuttings of a Red Twig Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera) at my parents house back in the fall. After I prepared them they sat for several weeks without anything happening. Just after I transplanted my butterfly bush cuttings (Adventures on a Warm Winter Day!) I thought I would try to bring in a few more cuttings from outside and the dogwoods were the main candidates. I had been keeping them in the garage near a window so I figured that bringing them inside into the warmth might hasten the rooting process.

I re-stuck the dogwoods into the same pot I used for some butterfly bush cuttings that I had already rooted then brought them inside. This week my hope for the little dogwoods turned out to be well founded. Two of them are leafing out and two others have roots but no leaves yet. It's almost always a sign that roots have appeared when propagated plants have started to leaf out.

Red twig dogwoods or red-osier dogwoods are great for winter color. I have a plan in mind for our front porch planting bed using dwarf cherry laurels and red twig dogwoods to give our drab winter landscape a little color interest.






Here's what I did with the red twig dogwood cuttings:

• I selected 5 cuttings with at least 3 nodes each. I made the bottom cut of each stem just below a node.
  
• Dabbed the red twig dogwoods with rooting hormone.
• Placed them in sand.
• Waited until leaves on at least one of the cuttings began to form then checked for roots.

For More on Plant Propagation:

Plant Propagation: The Basics
10 Easy Plants to Propagate for Your Home Garden