The easiest way to seed propagate for the garden is to spread the seeds evenly and thinly on the surface of the compost mixture and cover them with a thin (1 cm) layer of coarse sand. Put the pot outside in a shady place and don’t forget to water. Some trees and shrubs need a cold spell to come out of dormancy. If you don’t have anywhere to go in a hurry, leave it to nature: Just leave the pot outside until the seeds sprout. But you can speed this up by giving them an artificial winter: Put the pot in the fridge for a couple of months. Some seeds will have to be kept in the pot for two years or longer before they will come out.

With this method of propagation, you have no guarantee whether the seed that sprouts will resemble its parent or not.

Propagation by cuttings.
A plant grown from a cuttings will have a greater resemblance to its parent, and it will also take root faster than another that has sprouted from a seed. Not all trees and shrubs can be easily propagated this way, but for most it is possible.
Cuttings are prepared very simply by separating non-flowering shoots from the plant. The length of the shoots will depend on the genus of the shrub, but choose material whose nodes (buds) are as close together as possible. We advise working with the apex sprout, removing the apex leaves in the process. Make an incision under the last node, removing all the leaves beforehand. This last node is then dipped into the newly prepared rooting powder and placed in cuttings compost (50% compost + 50% peat), or in a plant bed or pot that can be covered with a plastic bag or other transparent material. Depending on the length of the shoot above or below ground level, there may be other nodes.

Some plants will root more readily if you provide them with a “heel.” This is a piece of old wood at the base of the cuttings, with it being taken from the place where the cuttings joined the main stem.
From the part of the stem that remains below the ground, the leaves should be removed to prevent rotting, and the leaves above the ground are removed to prevent moisture loss. They should be removed carefully with a sharp knife or razor. The uppermost leaves remain, but if they are large, they should be halved by making neat incisions with a razor.

The soil in the pots should be kept moist and protected from direct sunlight, even though your plants will need as much light as possible. Rooting times vary, but the beginning of new growth from nodes most often means that the roots have already formed and it’s time to plant your plants in individual, larger containers. Some plants, such as roses, are easy to root from large cuttings and can be stuck directly into the ground in some shady spot. The soil should be light and loose and don’t forget to moisten it.

Some plants propagate themselves by cutting off shoots early in the year when they are not yet woody (propagating green, summer cuttings). They should be cut with a razor blade or sharp knife just below the leaf node so that a 5-10 cm long cuttings are formed, depending on the plant. Remove any lower leaves and try to make as clean an incision as possible. If the plant has large, coarse leaves you should cut them in half to reduce the unavoidable loss of moisture due to evaporation. The end of the cuttings should be dipped in rooting hormone and placed in a mixture of garden sand and peat. The mixture should be kept moistened in a plant bed or with a plastic bag until roots emerge.

Propagation by grafts.
The grafting technique is very simple and can be a good way to propagate particularly difficult plants, but it is time-consuming. A parent plant is broken off and attached beneath the ground with either a peg or a heavy stone. Make a short cut in the center of the part of the plant that is in the ground, and bend the top of the shoot up and secure it with a peg.

Grafting.
For a number of reasons, it is sometimes more convenient to grow a tree or shrub using the so-called scion, namely the root and stem of another plant. Maybe the tree you want is growing too fast, so grafting it onto a slower-growing scion will keep it compact or even miniature. Sometimes it is possible to grow two species on the same plant or get wonderful chimeras.

Dividing.
This method is most often used for the propagation of herbaceous plants, but a number of bushes that form lateral scions can be propagated by removing part of the plant as a whole, with the roots, and planting the resulting material in another location.