In researching for this task of taking softwood cuttings, I finally solved a mystery that has been niggling at me for a while. Now is the time for softwood cuttings, whereas hardwood cuttings are for early autumn. Discussion about this is always followed by a comment on how long hardwood cuttings take to root. I do not lack patience, but this always begs the question about why anyone would do slow cuttings when you could do the relatively enthusiastic softwoods.

I found the answer in one of my favourite books on the matter – Carol Klein’s ‘Grow Your Own Garden’. I think this came free with a subscription to Gardens Illustrated about fifteen years ago (leafing through, the publication date is 2010) and it is one of those books that just keeps on giving. Admittedly, I only use the same pages 57-69 over and over again, Stem Cuttings. I don’t need guidance on how to divide herbaceous perennials or to separate rhizomes, but she is absolutely brilliant on cuttings. The answer to the mystery above if perfectly articulated; softwood cuttings might root quickly but they also wilt as fast.

Most of us at one time or another have tried our hand at removing sideshoots of perennials or shrubs and nestling them down in pots or trays. Success depends on many things: the time of year, the quality of material, and the facilities we have at our disposal.  Knowing what is what can up your chances of success. To start with, just what are the differences between all the types of cuttings - softwood, greenwood, semi-ripe, ripe, hardwood? No doubt each category could be split further, but when it comes down to it, it's simply a question of how ripe the wood is. The younger and more supple the stem is, the faster it will root, but the more rapidly it will lose moisture and wilt. Softwood and greenwood are what they say they are, with greenwood a little firmer, and these are the cuttings you take in late spring to early summer. Semi-ripe cuttings are still soft at the tip, but firm at the base, while ripe are firm, but flexible, and typical of later summer.

At one end of the scale, the soft and pliable growth of early summer is raring to go. If we are prepared to cosset our new softwood cuttings by maintaining a moist, but buoyant atmosphere, they will root rapidly and soon become strong young plants that are capable of going it alone. At the other end of the season, hardwood cuttings taken late in autumn and into winter lose little moisture and remain turgid for a long time. They have no leaves to transpire, and the stems are already so mature they can fend for themselves - but you do have to be patient, because they take months, not weeks, to produce new plants.

Page 60, if you have the book.

I know. Fabulous. All is clear. All I need to do is be careful and mist. I am not one for plastic around the place and my storage solutions are usually impractical and salvaged from the tip shop. I have one big box that I usually use for storing dahlia tubers but it is going to be a little steam room. Of course, what with this being the hottest June on record (this may not be true, but it feels like it), I want to keep in moisture and not cook them. I want to have a moist environment around the stems to reduce transpiration, but not around stems under the compost, because this is a recipe for rotting.

Two practical pieces of advice there. Do not skimp on grit and keep them out of direct sun. I won’t be keeping this box in the greenhouse, it’ll be in the shade of the cottage, in the courtyard by the back door.

The lid on will also hopefully prove the only solution to slugs and snails and general nibbling.

A what before we move onto the how. If your read this any further, you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone. Although David Austin have brought out a rose that looks a little bit like it (‘Dannahue’), I don’t think there is anything truly like a ‘Jude the Obscure’ and there needs to be more of them in the world. If David Austin aren’t going to propagate then, then I shall. Ditto William Morris, that they also inexplicably discontinued.

In fact, I am going to take so many cuttings from so many roses that you can expect me back here in six months’ time complaining I forgot to label them enough and I now have a hundred unidentifiable plants. I don’t expect them to flower in the near future (even with softwood cuttings, it is something of a long-term plan) and I am notoriously slapdash with the admin.

In addition to the multiplying of roses, I will also be doing some borrowing. Next door has a glorious hedge that is an unidentifiable form of Lonicera, (not nitida). It is currently wildly overgrown (as is everything next door… but that’s a story for another day) and me snipping a few springs out of it will be entirely unnoticeable. There is a honeysuckle twining along Mill Lane, down to the fields, which I happen to know if the most perfect shade of soft blush pink, and so I will also be having some of those. When I pop round to feed my mother’s cat, I shall take advantage of her absence to snip some bits off her lovely orange cornus.

And it is not just avarice. I will also be rejuvenating a rather tired ‘Miss Jessop’s Upright’ rosemary that looks like it has seen better days. They are absolutely the best variety for cutting because they grow tall and flower prolifically. Ditto a rather tired looking Salvia uliginosa.

Back to avarice though, I might triple the number of cosmos plants I have. I don’t need to, I barely have room for the ones I have, but if one cannot embrace abundance in June, what hope is there for any of us?