Cotoneaster horizontalis : air-layering

I love cotoneasters.

Easy to work with, very resistant, all styles allowed, the perfect plant for a beginner like me

I removed one from a hedge, thinking after 15 years or so it was big enough to live up to the magic world of gardendori.

But I also wanted to try air-layering on this species (I have so many tiny wee ones that i grow from haphazard seeds in my garden...)

March 2008 (the idea is to keeep only the first branch on the left) :



In May 2009, it was strong enough to try air-layring :




The whole hog (three air-layerings) :


Three months later (today), I decided to see if they had taken, so I unfolded the foil of the weakest, least interesting one :




And finally repotted :



I cut only one third of the logest banches, I'll wait until it is established, but it can make a nice mame I'm sure.

I'll wait a couple more weeks for the other layers I think.

im sure its a very stastifying feeling to see layering root yea

You never end learning : two out of the three layers I made died this winter. The roots were very fragile and a late frost killed them.

I still have the bigger one, that I will protect for the winter this time, and the main tree.

Still a lot to do, but I feel it's on the right way to something decent in a few years' time :

Alain, very nice start on this. The age conveyed in the butress is beautiful. I have one in the ground, that I have been cutting back twice a year, to thicken up the trunk. I also have some 'Tom Thumbs' (dwarf/mini cotoneaster) in the ground; their leaves are 4-9 mm in length... in the ground.
Salut, Todd