After 16 years in this house and garden, we have developed a quite a few empty areas in the garden beds. As the trees have matured, the garden has developed more and more shade, which has made it very difficult for some of the more sun-loving plants like our roses.
These holes have been bothering me a lot lately. Thankfully, my wife has gotten the gardening bug again, so I have some extra help in the garden to attack this issues. Starting this week, I am working my way through the garden and looking at those shrubs which are doing well in the shadier garden. Then I am taking cuttings of these plants so I can propagate my own replacements to re-green the garden.
I was looking up information on propagating pittosporum today and found a wealth of information online. (Isn’t the Internet wonderful?!) I was a bit surprised to see that unlike a lot of plants, pittosporum is best propagated using semi-hardwood cuttings from your existing plant. These are the newest freshest growth, but rather something that is a few months (or perhaps, more). The stems should be a little woody.
This week, perhaps as early as tomorrow, I am going to make some cuttings and get them started in a few pots. it should take several weeks before I am sure they have rooted, but hopefully after that I will have an excellent start in adding some more, evergreen, life to my garden.
Resources:
- Growing Pittosporum From Cuttings
- Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings: Instructions for the Home Gardener
- How to Propagate Pittosporum