My experience with red osier is that it can take a trimming anytime. I have trimmed some twice a year. To prune properly, take out branches to the ground, do not trim the ends. If you feel you must trim a branch to make it shorter, prune back to a natural fork. Red Osier is, by nature, a sprawling shrub 6 to 8ft high and 4 to 6 ft wide. If they are growing into each other, you may have planted them too close together so will need to thin them out by removing some: aim to have the individual plants spaced 3-4 ft apart. If you do not want plants that are 6-8ft tall, you will have a constant pruning job and should consider replacing them with a different shrub.

I bought a Kerria 'Golden Guinea' earlier this year, and planted it on the west side of the house where it received only hot afternoon sun and lots of strong winds. It was withering away to nothing, so I moved it to a northeast location with shelter from the house on two sides. It is putting on a lot of new growth and is much happier with the protection and morning only sun. Now the Red Twig Dogwood is the opposite. I had a couple at my last home, and they thrived in a full sun, southern exposure, while the folks across the street had the same shrub (planted by the builder in front of EVERY house) on the north side of their house, and theirs was leggy and sparse. Mine were like weeds. If I didn't prune them hard two or three times a year, they would get so tall I couldn't see out my front room window. Good luck with your new purchases. The great thing about gardening is that plants will quickly let you know if they are not happy with their location, which gives us time to find them a happy home if we are observant.

I pot mines as soon as i seen signs of roots forming. water roots form when under water and lack roots hairs and other features, air roots form in high oxygen soil or air. air roots that form in soil contain those hairs that help absorb more water which is good. They also help the soil stick to the roots stabilizing the plant. you could pot up later but you might break off some roots in the potting process which using energy trying to regrow them. do you actually see roots coming out or do you see the white bumps? i just rooted 4 - 6 cutting this way.

I tried the baggy method twice and had mold issues twice. I'm sure I must have done something wrong but those were my results. Last year I put 6-8" cuttings into pots of sphagnum moss with only one node showing. I had nearly 100% root but my health was bad and I lost a bunch of them when I could not care for them. This year I plan on rooting cuttings two ways. The larger more mature cuttings will be done the same way I did last year. The younger green cuttings I plan on putting in water and moving to sphagnum moss after I see root initials starting. I picked up 108 2.5" X 10" tree pots that are used for bench grafts to stick the cuttings in. I like sphagnum moss because mold hates it. I plan on leaving more nodes out of the soil this year. I find that when there is only one node above the soil the new leaves are more susceptible to disease. This is because the new leaves are so close to the soil its almost impossible to water without getting them wet. I realize having several nodes above the soil can pose a problem with dessication of the scion. To combat this I plan on spraying the portion of the scion thats above the soil with a mixture of Dormant Oil and Neem Oil. The dormant Oil will help with dessication and the Neem Oil should help with possible mold issues.