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Coldframe

Collect seed

Compost

Heel cuttings

Layering

Planting out

Pricking out

Pruning

Seed sowing

A deciduous or evergreen plant used for ground or wall cover, depending upon variety.

The deciduous types tend to be grown as shrubs whereas the evergreens are generally better suited as ground cover.

With some initial support the ground covered varieties can be trained to spread over and up a wall, once established they are self supporting.

Both types have tiny white or pink flowers which generally appear in early summer, followed by red berries in autumn.

Week 10;  Pruning is not normally required but if any plants require tidying up or trimming back to an allotted space do at anytime over the next two or three weeks

Week 30; If more stock is required collect berries as soon as they are ripe.

Remove seed from the inside of the berry/s and sow in trays/pots of seed compost, and place containers in a cold frame to germinate.

Germination can take twelve to eighteen months.

Prick seedlings out into individual 70mm (3") pots of potting compost when they are large enough to handle, and grow them on in the cold frame or a sheltered spot in the garden for another couple of years.

Week 34; Take heel cuttings of ripe lateral shoots and place them in a 50-50 mixture of peat and sand and place in a cold frame to root.

Once rooted grow them on in individual 70mm (3") pots of potting compost and grow them on in the cold frame or a sheltered spot in the garden for another couple of years.

Week 38; Plant out any time from now until early spring if conditions allow.

Plant them preferably in a sunny spot, or at least, a spot that gets some sunshine for part of the day.

Week 42; Layer suitable shoots.

These may take up to twelve months to root, at which time, sever them from the parent plant, and pot them up into individual 70mm (3") pots of potting compost.

Grow them on in the cold frame or a sheltered spot in the garden for another couple of years.

 n.b. If plants are being grown as ground cover, you may find that some shoots have self-layered them selves, so at the appropriate time sever them from the parent plant and grow on as described above.

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