I decided that we need more shrubs in the yard, yet I have no idea when I can travel to a garden center to get some (the nearest place selling shrubs is over 2 hrs away). A slow but cheap and easy method of propagating deciduous shrubs is called layering. I decided to do my first intentional layering of the
Spirea "Goldflame". I like this shrub for its bright pinky-orange foliage in early spring and clusters of purple flowers in early summer. It is better to do layering in early spring, (our spring runs a bit later up here - i.e. my tulips have not bloomed) when the branches are young, green, and flexible.
GARDEN MEMORIES INTERLUDE...I remember discovering this phenomenon back when I was about 6 yrs old and puttering around in my mom's rock garden. I noticed that some plants grew new little plants when you covered their stems with dirt and left them for a little while. I don't think mom had any idea I was doing this. I think she thought I was absorbed in the little patch of beans I was supposedly growing in the empty lot beside the yard ("where the snakes and scorpions roamed"...or at least that's how the song should go in the Okanagan).
First, I selected a branch looking sufficiently young and close to the ground. I pulled off a few leaves close to the mother plant, then
dug a hole under the branch. (I hope to get two plants here because I used a bifurcated branch.) I pinned the bare branches to the bottom of the hole with wire. I used 3mm bonsai wire but it was too malleable. Instead, I would recommend wire hangers cut into pieces or easier yet, rocks.
Then, to make sure my new plants don't come out of the ground at an angle, I poked a wooden chopstick into the ground and tied the plant to it with a velcro fastener. I love those velcro plant ties! The best part is that you can reuse them over and over. Lastly, I filled in the holes with dirt and said a prayer. Hopefully, these branches will make some roots and next spring, I'll cut the rooted shrublets from the mother shrub.
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The rock gardens are replendent in carpets of the pinky-purple flowers of creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), one of my favourite hardy evergreen perennials. I have been dividing a couple plants that already existed in the yard when we moved here in 2004, and these plants are all products of that cheap propagation method. They are quite showy and I get lots of comments about them.
Another view of the "rock garden". I grew about 50 new dianthus "rock garden mix" from seed this year and planted them in the spaces. I am hoping that it will finally fill in next year.
This is one of the stacked stone wall raised beds with pink "Menton" single late tulips. The wall of green in the background is sedum that will flower yellow in July. It is very hardy and spreads, so I beat it back where it creeps over and under edging into the perennial border. I also walk on it to get at the occasional dandelion or to take photos. As you can see, the mountain ash tree (top right corner) is not yet blooming.
