I have never owned my very own outside clothes line, but grew up with a yard strung with lines. Apple tree to pear tree to arbor and back to the apple tree. And because my mother was not very tall, and those were some long stretches of line which sagged when weighted down with wet clothes, a clothes pole or 2....or 3. A Clothes pole was variously a 2 by 4 with a notch in one end for the rope and a point on the other end to stick in the ground so it wouldn't slip. Some people had a clothes pole made from a long dowel rod with an eye hook in one end that you slipped the rope through before the rope was strung. Those poles had to be in place before you hung the wash, because once the clothes were hung, you couldn't move them down the line. One of the real dangers in playing Hide and seek on a summer's night was running into a clothes line while trying to run for base and yell "allie allie in free". 10 years or so back a good friend and I travelled together after we noth were widowed. Because her husband had been an exec with a washer company, she always took pictures of clothes on a line. It was she who pointed out to me the various ways people hung things to dry. And, because we always had double prints made and shared each other's pictures, I have lots of pictures of clothes draped over bushes in Africa and of clothes hanging in cobbled streets in Burano with the poles propping the lines anchored in curious stones with a hole in the center. I have pictures of laundry hanging from lines draped window to window in Venice and hung on fire escapes in cities. When she died I even got a lovely watercolor she had bought in Belgium of laundry hanging on a line. Now I toss it into a dryer and it comes out fluffy but smelling of dryer sheets.... Linda C

Oh yes - it's a very good sign. Callus is living tissue's response to wounding. Any time you take a cutting, the basal end will seal over with a plate of dead cells while the wound seals itself with a corky substance (suberin), which protects the cutting from dessication and disease pathogens. Behind this plate, living cells are beginning to divide into parenchyma cells that form the callus. As this occurs, cells in the (vascular) cambium are dedifferentiation and becoming stem (meristematic) cells. These cells are capable of redifferentiating into any of the plant organs (just like human stem cells) and differentiate into root initials if cultural conditions are favorable for root formation. The cells further organize into root primordia that emerge through stem or callus tissue at the same time vascular conducting tissues (the plumbing) are forming between root primordia and vascular tissues. Since callus formation simply indicates the presence of viable tissues in the wound area, we can certainly consider it a good sign. I think though, that the two most influential factors in coaxing cuttings to strike are our ability to provide optimal cultural conditions for rooting and the vitality (stored energy level) of the cuttings. Al

Hi Jane, Lady of the Night is subulifolia x grandiflora made by Claude Hamilton Bit of confusion over the clone name Mas Major. I suspect it should be Mes rather than Mas. I should change the tag to B.nodosa 'Rosemeath' but in this case I left it because of the famous parent. Pesky nomenclature. This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 23:52

So these cuts on either side of the node are made lengthwise for roots to be able to come out, correct? How deep should these cuts be made? Just cut down into the cambium layer - 1mm It also looks like you didn't remove the blossoms, is that okay? I thought removing the blossoms helps the cutting take root as most of its energy will go into rooting. Is that the case? Maybe it is different with the purple leaf sand cherry though. No, you're right, in fact I should go do that now - I left a few in the hustle of getting this all done quickly. Also, your cuttings appear to be about 5-6 inches tall when ready to be placed in the rooting medium. Is that correct? yup Would I be safe using sphagnum moss as well? I can purchase either perlite or sphagnum moss, just wondering which to get. Perlite will come in handy with potting soil as well though, so I may go with perlite, like you did. I find that its a whole lot easier to control the moisture level in perlite - as long as there is some sort of lid on it, it stays damp for weeks, wicks up moisture from the bottom as needed, but doesn't turn into a soggy mess. Lets air get down to the roots as well. I just find that much harder to manage with the moss and my cuttings rot far more easily. If I use a clear plastic bag, would that work too? I guess the downside of a plastic bag is that I'd need to have some fixture inside that keeps it from touching the leaves though. Sure, just put in some sticks to hold the bag up. Also, do you think I should get a different rooting hormone, or is my STIM-ROOT No. 1 rooting hormone (a pink powder) good enough? I'm sure that what you have is fine - its all the same active ingredient. Another few comments - if the leaves fall off, discard and start over. - when you start to see new top growth, thats a sign that things are going well. That should be at 4 to 6 weeks. - When you see that, its time to start taking off the plastic cover. Be careful - the environment is so humid under the plastic that the leaves adapt. If your ambient, room humidity is much drier, then when they're exposed, they'll wilt in a few hours. Needs a bit of TLC - remove for an hour, replace, next day two hours, etc. You may not need to worry about this, but I live in a desert, so its a major concern..... I live on the corner of two busy roads, so I've planted a sound/visual barrier with pine and ash trees, and under those, I have lots of shrubs, including a dozen or so sand cherry growing in the partial shade. I'd love to have more of them, but at this point, when I plant small things out, the trees pretty much steal all the sun, water, and nutrients.....