Over the past few weeks I have given some remote advice to my esteemed clients. There have been a few phone calls, a couple of WhatsAps, some dodgy “is this a weed?” pictures and the like. Today I received the above photo from Nancy Nightingale with the caption “Is this the done thing?”.
Like you I hope, it made me smile, chuckle even. I replied encouragingly “you never know it might work”, because although unlikely, it just might. I have used a similar method myself in the past, albeit in slightly different circumstances. A snapped twig or stem has been bound using electrical tape because, for some bizarre reason that even I don’t understand, that was all I had at hand at the time. And there were many successes with this method. After all professionals grafters, propagating roses, fruit trees or perhaps vines, use grafting tape to secure their creations until the scion and roots bind together. Posh sticky tape.
Then I messaged “but you could just chop the leaf off, it will grow another one.” Possibly the best option. Ten out of ten for ingenuity though.
Off The Edge Gardening 
Haha… perhaps I should have used this method when I snapped off a young rose stem today. My fault – I was trying to tie it onto a horizontal wire so that it could shoot upwards, but the stem was far too soft. When is the right time to attempt this?
(BTW I stuck the stem into a pot of compost – well you never know!)
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I think perhaps a little bit earlier, before the roses start into growth. I bet it does root, everything is going bonkers at the moment, best time for root growth!
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Ah, but I cut this one right back as it was an old rose and only flowering way at the top where I couldn’t appreciate the flowers. I’ll let it grow where it wants this year then and try tying any stems down next spring.
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Or wait until they get a bit firm this year.
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Oh my.
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Nancy has learned well. As “the rules” prevent you from visiting, she has sought to replicate what she has come to regard as normality insofar as post-visit correction is concerned. Though lesson 2, by which she will discover that she can make tea without half a bottle of gin, may prove more illuminating.
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You, my Lord, are a cheeky monkey. Don’t forget I know where you live.
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Love it!
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🙂
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I think the exercise of using the tape may well have led to more damage in most circumstances, so this was definitely a pre gin stirling attempt! Well done Nancy. Tip, always have your gin after gardening.
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Exactly, she blamed the wind, although I have my doubts …. 🙂
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I’ve been known to bandage up stems…
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