For Super Scents of Spring, Plant Daphne

            Unless you have the patience of a saint, forget the idea of starting them from seed.  Buy plants from a reputable nursery. Also be sure to leave plenty of room for them to spread and grow as you don’t want to be trying to move them later on.  You can propagate by softwood cuttings taken in early spring. Bottom heat will give the root cuttings a boost. They start fairly easy but are slow with new growth after roots are formed. I suggest filling a plastic pot or planter with sandy soil, placing 6” cuttings in the sand, water, and then cover with plastic. We always found that bread wrappers worked out well. Don’t even think of planting them in the garden until each cutting has produced a healthy looking root and leaf system. Then you can cut off the bottom of the plantar, keeping as much dirt around the root ball, and placing in a prepared hole that has been generously dug, then covering the whole shebang with well prepared soil. You can also root by burying a long section of branch and allowing roots to form on the buried part prior to cutting it off the mother plant.  Remove side shoots and leaves from the branch, cut a small strip of bark from the shoot, and bury it a shallow trench leaving the tip pointing upward. You can anchor it down with a hair pin, or wire.  Keep the branch well watered until rooted.  You can usually sever from the mother plant that coming fall. Check late fall or the following spring: if good root development has taken place, the layer is ready for transplantation.

            Any way you decide to do it, whether it be purchased plants, cuttings, or layering, after you get the new plants bedded in, then you can sit back and wait for the most fantastic annual spring flower show, and believe me – it will be scent-sational!

Pond at Treetops