Isabelle's questions

I have always wanted to know how greenhouses work; whether they have to
have some heat so that inside it doesn't freeze.  We're thinking of
putting glass walls and roof over the tomato garden, which gets a lot of
sun, even in the winter.  But it's far from the house and there's no way
to heat it.>>>>>

Bearing in mind that mine is an amateur operation I have a comment or two on 
your plan.  Being here in upstate New York, it will snow some years so much 
that a trip to this small glass house you propose will be such a chore, you 
will grow to hate it.  Something attached to your house is far easier to care 
for.  If you have  porch or part of your house,  installing roof windows and 
extra glass is much more convenient plus you have the space to enjoy in the 
winter months.  This would be a general comment.  I have a bunch of plants 
and bulbs growing indoors in a conservatory arrangement that was once an 
enclosed porch and is now mostly glass divided from the main house by sliding 
glass doors that offer a view of what is happening out there.   Anything 
unheated in the Catskills would only offer protection from wind and possibly 
act as a tall cold frame.  Part of it sunk into the ground a few feet would 
give you a six weeks start on our spring.  Other parts of the country that 
start up in April or sooner cannot imagine snow in April but we have to think 
that through. Also, Isabelle, snow load on glass is a factor here.  One would 
probably use some other material as glass is so fragile in our weather.

<<<<Does this mean you put the cutting in the ground, hopefully after
getting it to put out some roots, and then putting a large jar over it
for the winter?>>>>>

Yes, I have done that and it often works.  I gave up on my first tries but 
after realizing some go through the winter as rootless cuttings, rooting in 
the spring, I was very often surprised.  Thanks to this method I have around 
twenty clipped boxwoods here I wish I had not propagated.  All this clipping 
is becoming a chore.

<<<<>Hydrangea is easy, many viburnums
> are easy. 

This really gets me excited!  Do you mean I can take a cutting off my
(one) oak leaf hydrangea, get it to root, and then put it in the ground?>>>>

For me, a cold zone, you are too late in the season for Hydrangeas.  About 
the time the shoots are half-hard, that is not soft and new but not woody is 
the right time.  I would put them in a mix of peat and sand 50/50 and set in 
a shady spot.  About four weeks will get you roots.  Then you want to protect 
the young plant one season in a frame or covered in the winter.  I get about 
100% with hydrangeas which I no longer do as I have all the hydrangeas I can 
find places to plant.  I would use a rooting hormone packaged for woody 
plant.    Buy a very small amount, it lasts forever and there is that 
question of potency in long stored products.

I bought a small amount of woody rooting compound in Woolworth's in the UK 
(Woolworth's is still in business there) for around one pound with a neat 
gadget on the top for dippping cuttings.  I mention this as propagating 
shrubs is done all over Europe commonly.  We have not caught on to this skill 
or perhaps find it too much trouble.  Being the children of immigrants both 
my husband and myself think we should be able to pass around roses rather 
than buy them but I notice that is not a common practice.

There is a small thorny pink rose called "The Fairy" which is popular in New 
York because it does not die in winter as many others do regularly.  That was 
my first try with roses and I got around 25 plants which nobody wants so if 
you try you will eventually find it satisfying.  Just do not be discouraged 
in the beginning.  Again, one needs to learn which part of the plant to use 
and which time of the year to begin the process. 

Isabelle, I have around twenty different Viburnums including that one with 
the horrid long name commonly called leatherleaf.  That leatherleaf is not 
supposed to be hardy here but I have one on windy cold hillside around eight 
feet tall and blooming every summer.  All of my Viburnums except two or three 
are grown from cuttings.

A final note on propagating shrubs.  I think if you add shrubs to all garden, 
flowering or varigated shrubs, you will as you grow older have flowering 
plants needing little care as you the perennials shrink from care needed.  
That was my plan or sort of plan and I have amazed myself at what I can do 
with cuttings.  A cold frame to protect young plants in our climate is a 
useful thing. I never thought I would overproduce.  Right now I have the 
dwarf Weigela "Nikko"in a row in the veg frames, about twenty of them.  One 
never knows what the outcome will be.   I always set many more cuttings than 
I need and when there is a great success, there are all these plants.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index