The simple answer to your question is that a woody cutting will not root until the cut end forms a callus. This can be difficult with some plant material. May I suggest that for those hard to root shrubs/trees that you try my 'toothpick' method. It is easy. In August select those cuttings you wish to root. Now with a small, thin bladed knife or Exacto knife make one parallel cut all the way through the stem below a bud and insert a toothpick through the cut. Secure a marker on the branch so you can find it later. Walk away and forget about it until November. At that time the cutting will have callused on the plant. Remove the cutting below the toothpick and pull the toothpick out if possible or cut off the toothpick at either end close to the stem. Now the cutting should root in either a cold frame or greenhouse. I have even tucked them right next to a house foundation for the winter and found the cuttings rooted in the spring with no protection. By the way, the best method to try and root apples is to use the water sprouts as cutting material.

Hey Houzi, I just saw your post. Thanks a lot, yes my trees seem to have survived. I'm starting to believe the Japanese Maples are much tougher trees than I thought earlier. This will be my 3rd summer with many of them and despite all the negative factors (deep planting, too much watering, hot weather etc... ) not even 1 died on me. I had little hope for many of them last fall as I had removed a major portion of their root system. Some of them I had even bare rooted and it looked as if it wouldn't survive with such a small root system. Now with better conditions hopefully, (hey at least they are planted closer to the "right way" this time with the visible root flare and raised bed) I have much higher hope than before that they will be present in my garden in the long term. The tree marked as Corralinum seems to be like a sango kaku although it is probably a seedling rather than a true type. I still enjoy it, with its shape and colour. The bark was much more pink in winter though. Here are a few before & after photos of only some of my trees which I had posted in this thread

Hi everyone! and thanks in advance to anyone that replies! Hi, and welcome to the discussions! I'm on a super tight gardening budget this year - and by super tight I mean the only way I'll be getting flowers/plants for my container garden is from taking cuttings/seeds from what I already have and what my friends/family are willing to let me take little "snips" of. Anybody with cash can go buy a truckload of beautiful blooms - even have someone plant and care for them. What you want to do takes love, patience, consistent effort, forethought, determination, and IMO, can be extremely satisfying. I'm fairly new to propagating from cuttings - I have Purslane and Blue Daze (Evolvus) down pat, but I don't know what type of cutting and when to take them from ... pretty much anything else, I don't know if it's even possible to take cuttings from some stuff. Here's a list of the plants I have at my "snipping" disposal - Here's my experiences with some of your list... Clematis ... I had 'the president' but it pooped out the first day it was 100 degrees - boo) Clems like to be in full sun with their roots cool. Next time, try placing a potted plant so that it shades your clem roots during the hottest part of the day. This may help it get going. Remove flowers after the petals fall off so the plant does not waste any energy making seeds. Clems take a few years to establish. They make seeds but it is uncertain if seeds will make the same flowers as the parent plant. Mulch is very helpful for Clems. Balloon flower (platycodon grandiflorus - just the regular one and P.g. 'Mariesii') - makes seeds that are ready when the seed pods develop openings at the top. A long-lived perennial. Hosta (32 jillion varieties) - divisions as soon as the summer heat passes or early spring. Hostas live for a LONG time. Columbine - makes seeds that are ready when the seed pods develop openings at the top. Individual plants are short-lived perennials. Canna (My grandpa is going to mow over them if I don't come dig them up this weekend - can you move them any time or will they just die? Most of his don't have flowers and I don't know if it's because he doesn't water or if it's because he mows over them almost every year - can you grow them in containers?) - makes tubers that can be moved about any time. If grandpa mows them, no big deal. I think the ground (vs. in a pot) is preferable for anything perennial in your zone. Try to put them somewhere where they won't be soggy all winter but will get plenty of water in the summer. Mowing and/or lack of water could both lead to lack of flowers. You can cut large tubers in half to make more, and each year the tubers get bigger and make "pups." They also make seeds but people don't always have an easy time trying to get these seeds to sprout. A long-lived perennial as long as the tubers don't rot in the winter. Jasmine (not sure on variety, it may have...

I have been rooting cuttings in water for more years the I care to admit. I have rooted in soil, peat moss, vermiculite and sand. I have rooted many different plants and IMO water works just as well as any other medium for plants like impatiens, coleus, and begonias. That said I used to have hard water and I never had a problem rooting cuttings in it. I like to use yogurt containers the tall thin type and I usually put about three cutting per container. I leave them on a windowsill above my sink. I check them every day and add water to the container if needed, when they have about a quarter inch of root sticking out from the stem, I poke a hole in the soil and stick them in. I have at least a dozen plants in my backyard containers that I've started like that in the last month. As far as where it came from, I imagine it's been going on for a very long time. It was probably a happy accident. I really don't understand why there is such a fuss made about it. I think it is a simple method that many people are comfortable with and if it works for them what difference does it make.