For many, December is a time to relax in the garden. But knowledgeable gardeners use this silence to prepare rose cuttings – the same branches that remain after autumn pruning and usually fly into the fire. You can grow living, flowering bushes from them, even if you do not have a greenhouse, basement or special rooters.
The method has been working for decades. The main thing is to do everything before severe frosts, while the juice in the shoots has not yet frozen.
Semi-lignified shoots from last year, pencil thick, 15–20 centimeters long, with three to four living buds and smooth, healthy bark without signs of disease, are best suited for propagation. It is ideal to take material from bushes that bloomed profusely and did not suffer from powdery mildew; the flowers of new plants will be the same. Cut the cuttings with sharp pruning shears at an angle: the larger the cutting area, the more active root formation will occur.
The essence of the “snow” method is simple. Roses, contrary to popular belief, tolerate winter storage right in the garden if the cuttings have undergone natural stratification. The cold, as it were, “winds up” their internal biological clock, and in the spring growth begins earlier and stronger.
To prepare cuttings, tie them into a small bundle and wrap them in damp moss or several layers of newspaper, moss is preferable as it retains moisture longer and protects it from drying out. Then place the bundle in an opaque bag or wooden box with holes and bury it to a depth of 25–30 centimeters in a place where there is stable snow in the winter and no water in the spring. Pour a pile of snow on top or cover it with spruce branches as a natural shelter. Be sure to place a marked peg nearby, since under the snow it is easy to forget where exactly your “garden treasure” lies.
All winter long, quiet but important work happens with the cuttings. At temperatures from minus three to minus seven degrees, natural stratification starts in their tissues: the buds “remember” the winter, and callus is gradually formed on the sections – the rudiment of future roots. Moss or newspaper decomposes slowly, but maintains the desired microclimate until spring. By April, the cuttings do not yet have roots, but are completely ready for planting. And by June they can please with the first buds.
As soon as the snow melts, carefully dig out the bundle. Plant the cuttings at an angle in loose, well-drained soil, deepening them two-thirds of the way down. Cover each one with a “cap” made from a cut-off plastic bottle. On warm days, ventilate and water moderately; roses do not like stagnant water. In just three to four weeks you will see the first leaves, and by mid-summer flowers will appear on the bush grown from what was previously sent to the fire.
