Here is a foolproof method that guarantees a healthy new plant almost every time. Although some root faster than others, there’s hardly a tree or shrub with long or low-hanging branches that can’t be layered. Of course, the safety lies in the fact that the new plant is part of, and supported by, the parent plant until it is well rooted and strongly established.
In spring, when the plant is growing vigorously, select a low-hanging branch that can be pulled down to the ground. At that spot nick the bark, or slit the branch, to encourage rooting. Pin it down with a forked twig, a hairpin, or a clothespin and cover the tip with a little soil. When roots have formed and the tip is growing lustily, cut the branch between the new plant and the parent, then pot or transplant as you wish.
Air Layering
Plants that do not have a low branch are air-layered by nicking a stem or branch three or four inches from the tip, covering the nick with a ball of moist sphagnum moss, and wrapping the ball tightly in polyethylene, which is tied tightly at both ends. Hormone rooting powder can be applied to the nick with a small brush if you wish. Make sure the moss doesn’t dry out. When you see several good-sized roots, cut the stem below the ball, remove the plastic, and transplant or pot as you wish. Rooting speed varies with different plants. Some take only six weeks; some, several years.
Air layering can be done in spring, using ripened wood of last year’s growth, or in summer with new growth that is not yet woody and hard.
MINIATURE TREES AND SHRUBS
Abelia Caprifoliaceae
Ornamental shrub, persistent or deciduous, often half evergreen, spreading. Leaves simple, opposite, nearly stalkless. Flowers white or pink tubular, persistent purplish sepals. Native of Asia Minor and Mexico.
CARE. Semisun, or some protection. Well-drained soil with leaf mold. Amenable to pruning. Cool greenhouse. Hardy in zones 4 and 5.
PROPAGATION. Greenwood cuttings in summer, ripe wood cuttings in autumn, layering in spring, rarely from seed.