Alison,

Tell me more about the dormant rose cuttings. How do you do it?

This link is the most succinct description, but hang out on the Rose Propagation forum -- they're great people and very helpful.

I did it the simplest way possible. In December, after the roses had gone dormant, I took cuttings about the diameter of a pencil from my floribunda and a David Austin rose. I trimmed the tips and the leaves so I had a 6-8" stick.

I turned over a little bed along the side yard and broke up the soil. Nothing special, no amendments, just ratty city-soil. I dipped each cutting in rooting hormone and poked it into the soil. Watered well, then popped a sawed-off 2 liter soda bottle top, and piled 3-4 inches of straw over the whole thing.

I kept an eye on them all winter long, and maybe 2-3 times watered the whole bed a little. (Did it that same time I was checking the winter sown seedlings.) In March, I saw little nubs swelling on the sticks. By mid-April, they were all leafing out, same as the established rose bushes. I took the pop bottles off at that point, but kept the straw on them until mid-May, our last frost date.

I had planned to keep them in the ground for the summer, but my &*#!*&?!%^# neighbor decided he "needed" the space, so I dug them up mid-May and put them in 5-gallon nursery pots and left them in partial shade for the summer. 6 of the 8 cuttings I tried grew well (all the floribunda, for what it's worth), and flowered several times during the winter. They're about 18-20" tall. I still need to plant the two I'm keeping in their permanent beds.

It may have been beginners luck, so this winter, I'm going to be a lot more organized, and try different types of roses. I've got two rugosas and a gallica I really like, and this seems like a wonderful way to get carbon copies fairly quickly!

Here is a link that might be useful: Dormant rose cutttings

My experiments are in the area of winter sowing clematis seeds. I've let all my clematis flowers go to seed. I know they've been open pollenated all summer. It will be fun to see if any of them germinate...and what flowers I'll get. I've read that many clematis are very hard to grow from seed. This is my experiment...I hope I get SOME to grow!

...Beverly

I'm going to do lots of winter sowing this year. I'm also going to start some veggie crops early this year, utilizing cold frames.

I was lucky enough to stumble upon a cache of old windows last week as I walked the dog. All of these windows are 3ft. long and almost 2ft. wide. I have so much scrap wood that it will be no problem to make the cold frames this winter--I'm going to make them in a house shape, with 1 window serving as 1 side of the roof. I'll make the "roof" detachable so that I can store them more easily in the summer. Should be a cheap but exciting project!

I'm going to winter sow Jewels of Opar and Eyeball plant.

Then, I'm going to try and grow my own edible sprouts indoors. I'm going to start with alfalfa and attempt broccoli. We'll see.

Also, I'm winter sowing bottlebrush buckeyes from my yard. The trick isn't in the seed, it's keeping the squirrels from digging them up. I'm going to have to get my cats guns.

Ferns from spores! YAY!

Kymie -- the cold frames sound great. Good find!

bolecke -- how do you collect fern spores? I've never even thought about sowing ferns!

Coleous cutting. I have two coleous i would like to try to start for next year. They are both the real large leaf type, tartan and limelight. Any tips?
Purple potato vine, last year i found they grow from tubers and multiply! So i dug them up and saved them just like any bulb. Started with one plant, this year i have 4 and next year looks like a bunch. If you have every bought these, you know they are about $4 for a 4" pot.

Alison, Thanks for the description about dormant rose cuttings. I've been studying it, and I'm going to try it this winter!

Ooh... I second the request for info on starting ferns from spores!

Ohio_homegrown, do you dig up the SPV tubers after the frost kills the plants, or before? I have a couple in containers that I'd like to save for next year...

Alison, pluck a frond with the black or brown spore pods. Let them dry over tissue paper for a few days. The spores will fall down on the tissue paper. Timing is important, if you collect the fronds too late the spores have already been released

I'm going to try taking winter cuttings of my Rose of Sharon so that I can propagate enough plants to create a hedge around my secret garden.
I'm busy planning a fairy garden to go in and around my new stump.
I also plan on winter sowing. I've been saving containers all spring, summer, and fall!

Here is a link that might be useful: Future fairy garden home