Last year the first cuttings I tried were red twig dogwood I got in a mail swap. I had read somewhere on gardenweb about a guy who stuck his about 6" apart in a circle so that he had a headstart on a good-sized shrub the next year. I thought that sounded like a good idea, so I tried it.

They took for-ev-er to come out this spring (they still weren't leafed out at the spring swap, but when they did they really took off! This weekend I planted my "bush" out in the yard. It's about a foot tall and wide. Not bad for cuttings from last fall!

Tonight I stuck all the cuttings I received at the fall swap. In the dark, just now. (You know you are an addict when...) Anyway, I was trying to get this done as quickly as possible, so I decided since I was again going for the "instant bush" method, what I would do is dig a hole, put the rooting hormone on the cuttings and place them around the edge of the hole, then fill in with potting soil. :)

I placed the soil in very gently to avoid disturbing the powder, but I feel pretty sure enough stayed on to do the job. After I tamped it down a bit I sort of pushed any cuttings upright that were leaning.

This went really fast! :D Much faster than poking individual holes. Anyway, just felt like sharing. And now I'm officially done with all plant swap planting!