Softwood Cuttings 2021

In July 202l, Free the Fern began a Native Plant Propagation Project (Part 1). Lead by Teresa Gagné, seven members worked together along the Champlain Heights Trail System to pot 17 softwood cuttings of native plants. Each member monitored and cared for 2-3 pots, each of which include 2-3 softwood cuttings.

Native plants included: salal, trailing blackberry, red flowering currant, Pacific ninebark, orange honeysuckle, twinberry honeysuckle, baldhip rose, ocean spray, and red huckleberry.

Softwood Cuttings 2022

On July 10, 2022 Teresa and Denis led a softwood cutting Propagation Experiment (vol 2)

7 volunteers gathered to collect 31 cuttings:

• trailing blackberry – 5

• Red huckleberry – 2

• mock orange – 3

• gooseberry – 3

• tall Oregon grape – 1

• baldhip rose – 8

• red flowering currant – 9

Cuttings were potted in 50/50 peat moss and sand mix and placed in the Free the Fern greenhouse.

Seed Collection 2022

In July 2022, Free the Fern also experimented with collecting seeds from native flowers. Volunteers used a folded paper to collect seeds from Pacific bleeding heart and red columbine seedpods. The seeds were left out to dry and stored in envelopes for later planting on the Red Alder Trail.