Gardening glossary
Layering (propagation)
Layering is one of the oldest propagation techniques because it has the highest success rate. The new plant gets water and sugars from the parent throughout root development, so it rarely fails the way an unrooted cutting can.
The classic technique — simple ground layering — works on any plant with flexible, low-growing stems:
1. Choose a healthy, year-old branch that bends down to the ground. 2. About 20–30 cm from the tip, wound the underside of the stem with a shallow cut (this exposes the cambium and triggers root formation). 3. Pin the wounded section to the soil with a U-shaped wire or a stone, then cover it with 5–10 cm of soil. Keep the tip exposed. 4. Keep moist for 6–12 months. Roots form along the buried section. 5. Once well-rooted, sever the new plant from the parent at the soil line and transplant.
Plants that layer reliably:
- **Strawberries** — the runners layer themselves naturally; just pin each baby plant down where it lands. - **Currants, gooseberries, blackcurrants** — almost foolproof in autumn. - **Forsythia, weigela, dogwoods** — most ornamental shrubs with flexible stems. - **Rosemary, thyme, and other low woody herbs** — branches that touch the soil often layer themselves accidentally. - **Climbing plants** like jasmine, wisteria, and clematis.
Variations on the basic technique:
- **Tip layering** — bury just the growing tip of a stem (used for brambles, blackberries, raspberries). - **Serpentine layering** — pin a long flexible stem so it dips in and out of the soil at multiple points, creating several new plants from one stem. - **Mound layering (stooling)** — cut a shrub back hard in winter, then mound soil around the base in spring as new shoots emerge. Each shoot forms roots in the mounded soil.
For plants where ground layering is awkward — large houseplants, tall shrubs, or anything you cannot bend down — see [air layering](/glossary/air-layering), the elevated version of the same technique.