Making More Plants: Shrubs and Vines
Learn to multiply woody plants from stem cuttings
KEN DRUSE admits it: He’s addicted to propagating plants; it’s his favorite part of gardening.
Hoping it will become yours, too, Ken has created a new course series for The Virtual Garden Club called “Making More Plants,” a series of how-to videos and detailed handouts, which paired with four live Q&A calls he’ll host from May through September, will allow him to share his expertise and personally coach you through the process of making more plants of your own.
The first installment of his new course starts at the start of the season for making more shrubs (plus certain vines and trees) from woody stem cuttings—enough roses or boxwood for a hedge, perhaps, or more Clematis vines or Hydrangeas to repeat their beauty elsewhere in your garden.
“There's something magical about watching new life emerge from what seems like nothing,” he says, “a seed, a leaf, even just a tiny piece of stem or root.”
And then there’s the practical appeal:
“Propagation isn't just my passion,” he says, “it's my ticket to filling my garden without emptying my wallet.”
What's So Special about Propagation?
PROPAGATION has been called "the practice of growing whatever you want, whenever you want."
It's an opportunity to make more plants from those that already exist, offering several compelling benefits for gardeners:
Save significant amounts of money on expensive plants, and varieties you want dozens of throughout your garden. (Think about it: How much would it cost to buy enough of a particular shrub to create a whole hedge, for example.)
Get your hands on to hand-to-find plants through the generosity of friends, neighbors, or local businesses. Once you know how to propagate with confidence, the whole world becomes your plant store.
Create an insurance policy for heirloom plants you don't want to lose. Plants are one of the few treasures that can be reproduced. Those who propagate (and share) can always get their plants back if disaster strikes.
Participate in the rewarding work of nurturing and growing new plant life at an up-close, hands-on, and intentional level. Propagation is gardening itself.
This is a working program. While not required, you will get much more from the experience if you follow along in real time, propagating your own plants. In doing so, you will develop an exciting new skill that can serve you for years to come.
If you have the time and the interest, we'd love for you to join us.
How Does Propagation Work?
There are opportunities to take cuttings of woody stems to make more plants from spring through the following winter. The key is knowing the when and which technique for each plant: whether it responds best to propagation by softwood, semi-hardwood or hardwood cuttings. We'll also learn the art of layering (both air-layering and ground-layering), rooting cuttings while they're still attached to and supported by their parent plants, which gives them an even better chance for success, and yields a bigger new plant than a cutting would.
Though the tools and the basic process—taking a cutting, rooting it, and caring for it until it’s ready for its permanent outdoor home—are similar, critical details such as those differ, and make all the difference between success and failure.
Some examples among the many possibilities of woody plants that respond well to the different techniques:
Softwood
Hydrangea macrophylla (bigleaf hydrangea)
Spiraea
Weigela
Forsythia
Deutzia
Physocarpus (ninebark)
Callicarpa (beautyberry)
Abelia
Philadelphus (mock orange)
Potentilla
Sambucus (elderberry)
Semi-Hardwood
Azalea
Rhododendron
Camellia
Kalmia (mountain laurel)
Pieris (Andromeda)
Daphne
Gardenia
Hardwood
Forsythia
Spirea
Ligustrum (privet)
Ribes (currants, gooseberries)
Sambucus (elderberry)
Weigela
Physocarpus (ninebark)
Philadelphus (mock orange)
Some Cornus (red-twig dogwood)
Take this four-month journey for only $179.
Or split it into four payments of $49.
Why Ken? That's Easy... He Wrote the Book on Propagation
KEN DRUSE is the author of 20 award-winning gardening books, including Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation.
It received the 2001 Award of the Year from the Garden Writers Association and was named best book of the year by the American Horticultural Society.
This program brings decades of new insights, and the opportunity to experience a first-of-its-kind mentorship featuring video lessons, printable handouts, and live Q&A calls with Ken.
What's Included in This Program?
We've worked hard to give you everything you'll need to reap a propagated harvest of new plants you can enjoy in as short as a few months, and hard-won wisdoms you can use for a lifetime. You'll maintain access to program materials for one additional year following the completion of the program.
On-Demand Lessons
Peek over Ken's shoulder as he does the exciting and often surprising work of propagation right in front of you.
Printable Handouts
Perform your own propagation experiments with confidence thanks to printable, step-by-step handouts.
Live Q&A Calls
Troubleshoot any challenges you're experiencing directly with Ken, thanks to live Q&A calls hosted on Zoom.
Live Q&A Call Dates
All calls are scheduled for 1:00pm - 2:30pm eastern. They will be hosted on Zoom and recorded for your convenience.
June 3, 2026
July 1, 2026
August 5, 2026
September 2, 2026
Take this four-month journey for only $179.
Or split it into four payments of $49.
Who is This Program For?
If you're ready to master a new skill set and evolve as a gardener, enhancing your garden as you learn, this standalone class that drills deep into a single topic—in this case, propagating woody plants from stem cuttings—is for you.
Ken created this more intensive program to offer the opportunity to dive deep into the geeky, fascinating world of propagation, drawing on his decades of expertise and passion.
Whether you're driven by the thrill of creation, the satisfaction of saving money, or the hunt for rare botanicals, plant propagation opens a world where your garden's only limit is your imagination—not your budget.
What you’ll learn is...
How to fill your garden with beautiful shrubs and vines, both flowering ones and others prized for the foliage, including unusual ones you often cannot find at nurseries but a friend might share some cuttings of. You’ll find that you can grow a boxwood hedge, or at the least a smashing topiary.
He'll reveal how easy it is to reproduce an arching shrub (or a vine) beginning with about a half-hour of your time, leaving it alone and coming back in a few months to find a completely rooted copy of the original.
Ken grew multiples of a rare hardy Hibiscus with big white flowers that bloom for over a month, and created a 15-foot-long living wall of them. You’ll find that there are ways to reproduce certain trees, too.
You will see all of this demonstrated in step-by-step videos to watch over and over and have a handout with each to print to follow along.
And Ken will be by there, by your side, for you to get your questions answered in regular live sessions. Take advantage of his years of experience.
Take this four-month journey for only $179.
Or split it into four payments of $49.