CONIFERS offer us colour, contrast and interest throughout the winter months. They are available in a wide range of forms, shapes and sizes, from the tiny bun-like mounds of the rock garden cypress to towering redwoods and scrambling junipers.

Most gardeners buy conifers growing in containers. This is ideal if you are starting a garden or wish to create an instant effect. However, if you have more time and ready access to a suitable parent tree, it is quite possible to grow your own from cuttings taken now.

Raising conifers from cuttings is not very difficult. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a lengthy business either, with most popular garden varieties attaining a height of several feet within four or five years.

For all named kinds of the cypress-like conifers cuttings are the only satisfactory method of propagation as seed of these, even when available, will give rise to many different shapes and sizes that will bear little or no resemblance to their parents. Needle-bearing conifer species are raised from seed and named varieties of these are grafted.

Those that can be increased from cuttings are propagated from short shoots, three to four inches long, which are removed from the parent plant with a heel. A heel is a piece of older wood which remains attached to the base of the cutting.

Be sure to take material from an evenly balanced upright terminal growth. Any that is removed from the spreading lower branches of the tree is likely to produce badly misshapen specimens.

Root the cuttings in a cold frame in trays of compost. A mixture of equal parts peat or pulverised bark and perlite or sharp sand are ideal. Spray occasionally overhead with clear water and ventilate freely.

Most gardeners prefer to treat young conifers as pot plants for the first two years of their life, this is to be recommended if they are grown rapidly and potted as soon as it becomes necessary. If they become pot-bound the roots grow around the pot in a spiral fashion, become hard and woody, and then take a long time to establish in the open garden.

Many of the most popular and easily grown conifers, especially those that are used extensively for hedging, are raised from seed. These should be sown now in pans of John Innes No1 potting compost with a liberal quantity of sharp sand added and stood in a cold frame or a sheltered position outside. They will germinate during late spring and early summer.

If you are able to get some old pine needles and debris from beneath an adult tree, mix this in with the compost when rooted cuttings or seedlings are potted on.

Conifers have a biological relationship with minute fungi which live among the pine needles. Young plants grown in a compost inoculated with this fungus grow much faster than those established in sterile compost.

Grow the young plants on in pots, ensuring that they receive plenty of water and during the summer an occasional feed. A tomato fertiliser is excellent, encouraging steady growth that is tough enough to withstand the vagaries of our winter climate. Standard liquid feeds often promote growth that is soft and vulnerable to both wind and frost damage.

WHAT'S NEW

* Golden Anniversary is a golden leafed pelargonium which has been bred to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the British Pelargonium Society.

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* Purple Jumbo is a purplish green edible asparagus.