Twelve Inches and Four Nodes

Field note 260919 · September 19, 2026

Some ideas sound too good to be true. Cut a stick off a native shrub, push it into damp ground, and wait for it to become a shrub. That's live staking. In September I took a class on it at Shonnard's Nursery, sponsored by the Benton Soil and Water Conservation District, and learned that it really is nearly that simple, with a few rules that matter.

No pots, no greenhouse, no fuss. Just the right stick, cut the right way, at the right time of year.

The method, as taught

The instructors were specific, and the numbers stuck with me:

• Cut dormant stems about as thick as a pencil, or a bit thicker, and not too woody.

• Make each stake at least 12 inches long with at least four buds or nodes.

• Cut the bottom on a slant, about an inch below the lowest node, so it pushes into the soil.

• Set it so at least one node is underground and one or two are above.

• Plant it right away, in moist, prepared soil, without crushing it.

We also used a liquid rooting hormone: a quick dip of the bottom inch just before planting. The label gives different mixing ratios for hardwood and softer cuttings. Dormant stakes take the hardwood mix.

What grows this way

The class named several Northwest natives:

• Red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)

• Red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

• Willows (Salix species)

• Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium)

• Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis), also called Indian plum

• Pacific ninebark (Physocarpus capitatus)

• Elderberry (Sambucus species)

• Common snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus)

• Pea-fruited rose (Rosa pisocarpa), a native rose of wet and streamside ground

The instructors were clear that rooting success varies by species and by site, which I chose to hear as permission to fail now and then. Treat every planting as a trial.

What came home with me

I came home with two red-osier dogwood stakes and a sprig of pea-fruited rose, which might make four or five stakes if I'm careful.

The purple rose beside our driveway is next on my list. It's a plant I'd like more of, and a few sticks in the ground may be the cheapest way to get them.

Down by the North Fork of Belden Creek, there's a dogwood with green stems. Western dogwood can have green stems in shade, so that's a likely match. I'll confirm it from the leaves and flowers before I start cutting it up. There are also native willows here that I'd like to spread to other moist spots. Live staking looks like an easy, low-cost way to give them that chance.

Timing and manners

The window for collecting cuttings is the dormant season, roughly November through February. And the obvious rule: cut only from your own plants, or with permission.

I'll report back in spring on which stakes leafed out and which ones just stood there looking like sticks.