Planting Hydrangea Clippings?

I did it. Here's what I did. I pulled bottom leaves off. Then, rubbed honey where the leaves were. The hormones in the honey ignite the rooting to start.

Planted it straight in dirt at an angle, not straight up and down. Make sure you put the part of the stem where the leaves were in the soil. That's where the roots will come out. Keep moist. I learned this from a 77 year old friend of mine : ), you can root almost anything this way!

I left them in water until they had roots that were nice and long. It took a while as I remember. Then I planted them. That was ten years ago and the two little stems are now two very good sized plants.

Sherry

June 25, 20080 found this helpful

Hello
I'm from the Eugene area too. When my Mom moved I took several cuttings of her old lilac bushes. I kept them in big buckets of water outside for a year before I planted them and they did just fine and are beautiful lilac bushes now.

I've had good luck with just clipping rhododendrons and azaleas and sticking the clippings into the soft earth somewhere in my yard. You might want to try that with hydrangeas to see if it works. I've been told it works with old garden roses.

good luck

I must try your idea Debbie. I got this info from an elderly friend also. I have used this method for years and always have good luck with it. You can pull a branch down to a small hole in the ground beside or under the bush that you wish to root, cover it about middle of the branch with dirt leaving the outer end exposed. If the branch won't stay buried, place a rock or brick on it to hold. I have given my daughter a hydrangea, snowball and forsythia for her new house this way. My grandmother called this brick rooting and she did not even bury it, just placed a brick on the branch to keep it in contact with the dirt. I usually do this in early Spring and don't dig up until Fall or the next Spring. When you can tell that it is rooted, cut from the mother plant and dig up your new baby for transplanting.