Question
QUESTION: Hi Tom: I need your expertise again on my snowball tree. My mom has wanted a snowball plant for some time now. Mine although quite small (2 treelike limbs but with over 30 snowballs on them) is doing very well and I would like to know how to take a piece of mine and give it to her. Is that possible? And if so, how do I do it. There is the bigger limb which has around 25 snowballs on it and then a smaller limb has 5 snowballs. We live in Nova Scotia Canada and have similar soil as we are within walking distance from one another. Our soil is quite rocky but seems to work for plants.
I would really appreciate any advice you could give me.

Thanks.
Judy

ANSWER: Hi Judy,
thanx for your question.  Probably the easiest way to do this is to take a part of the shrub that can easily be brought down to the ground and a section of it buried about 10 cm deep.  First, remove any flowers.  Second, make sure you have enough of the shrub where it is still attached to the mother plant but you can scape the first layer off the twig and then dig a hole that will comfortably accommodate this part of the branch.  Cover the branch with soil and place a rock on top to keep the branch from coming out of the soil.  The rest of the branch should be on the other side of the rock (the part where the flowers were cut off) and leave the leaves on.  What will happen is over the summer, the mother plant will keep this section nourished while it begins to root, underneath the rock.  Next spring, will be a baby shrub that you can safely dig up, cut off from the mother plant and plant at your mother's house.  This will be a much healthier plant than taking a cutting which can be more difficult.  If you don't like this idea, let me know and I can give you instructions on growing cuttings.  I hope this helps.

Tom

Here's a link to show you what I'm talking about.  Great instructions and examples of layering from North Carolina State University.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8701.html



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Tom:  Could you please send me the information on growing cuttings as well.

The limbs of the snowball is fairly hard & although I am going to try it I would also like the cutting instructions just in case.

Thank you so much for all your help.

Judy

Answer
Hi Judy,
I would be glad to give you the cutting instructions for your snowball bush.  Here are instructions I posted here several years ago.  I forgot about this!

Good Luck!

Take green wood cuttings (hard wood cuttings are harder to root and take longer to root) about 8 inches long in the spring and strip off all but the last two or three leaves from the cutting.  Dip the cut end in rooting hormone such as Rootone which you should be able to find at your garden center.  Stick the cutting in a damp but not soggy soiless mix and keep it warm (around 70-80 degrees F).  Rooting should take place within 8 weeks. After rooting, pot the cuttings up in separate pots and wait until there is new leafy growth before planting outdoors after all danger of frost is over.  You'll need to acclimatize the cuttings when you place the pots outdoors for 10 days.  Keep them in the shade where they are safe from extremes of rain, temperature, wind and hail.  Keep them watered.  After 10 days, plant them in full sun and a well-drained area.  I hope this helps.

I hope this helps.
Tom