| Contributor
I recently took a picture of one of my camellia bushes with the focus on a beautiful red flower and posted the photo on Facebook. My longtime friend Marzette Johnson asked if I would propagate a cutting for her.
I hadn’t tried propagating the plant when David Link, my bonus son, asked me how to propagate a magnolia tree by layering a branch. (The question was asked and answered in last week’s Q&A column.) After submitting the column for publication, I immediately set out to gather supplies to layer a few limbs on my camellia.
I found my camera, a steak knife, a spray bottle filled with water, a jar of root hormone, a brick, and a hoe. With my hands and arms loaded, I dragged the hoe down the driveway to my bush. After selecting a low-lying branch, I dragged the branch to the ground. The length of the branch was just right. I put the brick on top of the branch and everything fitted perfectly.
I removed the brick, peeled off the leaves from the chosen location on the branch, and then scratched the branch open with the steak knife. Next, I sprayed the limb with water from the bottle and sprinkled some of the root hormone on my fingers. Then I took the scraped off part of the limb in my hand and smeared the branch thoroughly with the powder.
With the mat I roughened the earth at the selected point, then pulled the branch back down and placed the worn branch floor directly over the roughened floor surface. To complete the process, I covered the branch with the loosened soil, put some mulch over it, and placed the brick over the branch to hold it in place. I opened the spray bottle and poured some water around the brick.
That’s when I decided to try something new. I went into the front yard where I picked up a planter I had previously filled with soil to plant a few seeds but hadn’t done yet. I put the pot of earth under the camellia’s canopy and found another branch.
I went through the same procedure as before, except this time, instead of placing the branch on the ground on roughened ground, I placed the scuffed section on top of a roughened bottom section in the container. I attached the branch with a piece of brick I found nearby and poured some water on the earth around the edgebander.
Now I have two chances of propagating a new camellia. When using the container, I have to water the cutting occasionally, as a container with soil dries out faster than soil in the ground.
Carol (Bonnie) Link is an Etowah County gardener and veteran gardening writer. Her weekly column is designed to help and encourage others with their gardening work. Send questions or comments to clink43@bellsouth.net.
