Gardener’s notebook

Gardening editor Paula Mcwaters shows how to get the best from your plot in March

One of the joys of gardening, whether you’re a newbie or an old hand, is the miracle of propagating – multiplying your plants and having spares to swap with friends. Hardwood cuttings are easy to take now, particularly of the shrubby dogwoods that provide such good winter stem colour.

I grow lime-green Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ and redbarked C. alba ‘Elegantissima’, which I cut back hard every other March, now they are well established. Take about two-thirds out of your bushes or go all-out and take them right down to about 10cm above the ground. Either way, the prunings will provide you with plentiful hardwood cuttings. Choose pencil-thickness stems and make each one about 30cm long by cutting straight across just below a node at the bottom and at an angle just above a node at the top. Mark a trench in a spare bit of ground and push a row of them in at 15cm spacings or grow them on in pots of compost. They will sprout in no time. Follow Paula on Instagram @paulalifeandsoil.

Epimedium flowers are reminiscent of jesters’ hats and Epimedium ‘Pink Elf ’ is a fine example, with pale pink spurs around a slightly darker pink cup. Grow it in partial shade and enjoy its bronze-flushed, heart-shaped leaves. £6.95 from organic, peat-free Penlan Perennials (01570 480097; penlan perennials.co.uk).