Stick Sticking Time

It is stick sticking time again. Hardwood sticks that is. Winter has officially arrived. Plants are dormant and the leaves have all fallen off.

Time to propagate some more plants has now arrived. Yes, you read that right. Starting new plants in the middle of the cold winter.

Summer is so nice to work outside with plants. It’s warm, the sun is shining and there are birds flying all around singing their songs. Flowers are blooming.

Winter, on the other hand, is cold, frigid actually. Gray cloudy skies and snow on the ground. No birds to be found and certainly, no pretty flowers blooming.

Many shrubs can actually be propagated at this time of the year. They are called hardwood cuttings. The stems have matured to the point that they are very woody.

Hardwoods of what?

Willows, many Spireas, Weigelas, Potentillas and more can be propagated as hardwood cuttings. Even evergreen plants, that don’t lose their leaves, like Hollies can be done successfully.

Dappled Willow is an excellent example of something that roots as hardwood cuttings. I do many Dappled Willows this way.

Since this is a propagation nursery, plants are started here almost all year long. I actually stick thousands of these hardwood sticks every winter. They get frozen in snow for the whole winter.

Those sticks actually hold a certain amount of energy inside. Nature has provided ways for the survival of these plants. If a stick breaks off during winter, it may actually start rooting right where it lays.

When the temperatures start warming up, that little bit of energy tells the stick to start growing. The first sign of growth is new leaves appear. Next, come the roots.

Satellites in the nursery?

I like to think of it like a satellite launched into orbit. The stick is the satellite of coarse. The first thing satellites do is open up their leaves (solar panels).

That gives them energy from the sun. That energy allows them to get to work. The roots start growing so they can do the work.

As roots start growing, more energy is acquired. More leaves develop now and before long, a new plant is born. It really isn’t quite that simple.

If it was that easy, every stick would root and everybody would be making lots and lots of plants. Before long I would be out of business because everybody would be doing it themselves.

Remember that part about me doing thousands of sticks over winter? Lots of them never make it. Even if they start making leaves and roots, there is a big chance of failure.

Magic wand

That is where the part of a nurseryman comes into play. We have a special magic wand that we use for success. It is only available to professionals.

That is what some people think and believe. It isn’t really true. I don’t have a magic wand of any sort. It just takes patience and some special care at just the right times.

I don’t always have success. Sometimes life gets in the way at just that moment and just like that, failure occurs. But, success is so gratifying when I see a box full of leafy sticks growing.