The cloning of the French Pussy Willow - French Pussy Willow Shrubs

Posted by Glory Lennon at 4:00 AM MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2011

Julie of Wooly Acres fame asked for a few clippings from my French Pussy Willow. She wants to make a natural fence, windbreak or hedge, all of which the French Pussy Willow would be great.

These are the clippings I took from the small French Pussy Willow I cloned last year. Why didn't I take them from the original French Pussy Willow? Well, it's currently out of reach...

and the branches I can reach are too woody and no longer small, green and supple enough for the cloning or propagating process. So, I took them from the small one. It's fine to do that since I wish to keep this plant much smaller than its parent plant.

You can't even notice I clipped so many off of it. Love plants like that. They give and give without a bit of bother.

The branches soaked in the pond overnight. It wasn't my first choice but time was short. I had to go clean up to fetch Justin. The next day the leaves looked all dried up but I really didn't need them. It's the stems we want for propagation. All the foliage could easily be stripped away. I chose to leave them.

I only stripped off the bottom 6-8 inches of branches and leaves. This is to give a clean place for rooting. Once the stems were clear, I took a knife and lightly scraped the stems. This exposes the green cambian layer and fascilitates rooting. On willows of all sorts, this isn't really necessary, but for other shrubs which don't root that easily, you may want to try it this way.

Once all the stems were prepared, I filled a pot with soil and pushed each stem in. Then I set the pot in a saucer with water to keep the stems constantly moist. I expect them to be rooted within a few weeks.

They may call it cloning, because that is exactly what it is, but its so much easier to clone plants than it is to do the same with animals. No, I don't expect Julie to clone a sheep for me.