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i wanted to share my excitement with my red twig dogwood shrubs. i have been working over the past five years to propagate them, with the layering technique. this is a very easy technique that can be used on any type of shrub that has low growing branches. i learned how to do this from my Master Gardening classes. when we moved into our home, we had one red twig dogwood between our home and the neighbors. of course, i wanted to create more of a barrier with their yard. i decided to use the layering technique, and although it has taken this long, it was free. i could have easily gone to my garden center and purchased more of these shrubs, but why not try this technique? and, it worked! (hence, my excitement)
all it took was to bend one of the lower branches of the first plant, so that it was touching the ground. i covered the middle of the branch with some soil and propped the outer end of the branch up with a stake, so it was not touching. after several weeks, the middle section of the branch formed roots, and i was able to cut it free from the main shrub. i did need to protect this small shrub from animals that would nibble on it, so i used a small wire cage. i continued to use this method and after several years, these red twig dogwood have fully extended between the trees on my property. when they leaf out this spring, they will be lovely.
the attraction of the red twig dogwood is that the branches are red during the winter months, giving some winter interest to the garden. and, this winter, with all of the white, these were lovely poking through the snow.
if you want more information and some diagrams on how to do plant propagation by layering, use this link from North Carolina State University:
angel food garden 