Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2011 | Page 92

Gardening with Tina Hughes Tina trained as a professional gardener after leaving school and spent a summer working in Tuscany as an English Gardener. She has a National Diploma in Horticulture. Cutting remarks The last two winters came as rather a shock to many of the tender shrubs that normally flourish on the Isle of Wight. Many did not recover, and the cost of replacing plants can be high. However, many shrubs can be easily propagated in early August from semi-ripe cuttings which require minimal care and can provide useful insurance against more winter losses. Choose cuttings from shoots that have just started to become woody but still remain slightly flexible. Depending on the type of plant, cut at a the node formed by a leaf or pull them from the main stem of the plant. Aim for a cutting roughly 6-10cms 92 www.visitislandlife.com long. Cuttings that are pulled will have a ‘heel’ of ripened woody material. This needs to be trimmed off so there is a neat little piece of exposed inner stem that would have formed the junction between the shoot and the main part of the plant. Roots will develop from just below the bark at this point. As the cuttings are collected they should not be allowed to dry out, and it is best to put them into a plastic bag or, even better a plastic pot with a lid. Prepare them as soon as possible and insert into a pot of suitable cutting compost containing grit or perlite to prevent the compost becoming waterlogged. They can then be well watered and placed in a propagator, or the flower-pot can be covered with a polythene bag, held in place with an elastic band. Put them in a shaded spot, and they will almost take care of themselves, as long as they are not allowed to dry out. Some plants will form roots in a week or so, while others will take longer. But resist the temptation to pot them up if they are not well rooted by early September as the disturbance can be fatal. Instead, leave them as they are until next spring when they can be potted up just as they begin to grow again.