In mid-July I was gifted with a lovely bunch of cuttings and plantlings from a very generous BYP member. I was very nervous being as this was the first time I'd ever tried to strike cuttings of roses. Add a touch of worry as my books all talk about maintaining temperatures and under-tray soil warmer to ensure good root growth etc. Meanwhile we still get cold nights, occasional frosts and have no under-tray warmer! (Nor the spare hundred dollars for one.)

In the end I used styrofoam containers from the local restraunt as they've got good insulation qualities and drain well, mixed striking mix, cut all the branches into appropriate sized bits, dipped them, tucked them in, watered them regularly and held my breath.

I have to say, 5-6" lengths of rose twig do not look very promising at first, I was so nervous I'd done it wrong somehow! Lo and behold, a few weeks more and the whole bunch were leafy little things!

So after a few weeks more growth today was the big day for potting up as they needed more space for their roots to keep developing. So I took them out carefully and ohhh... ROOTS! Not bad for a first effort from a rank novice! Now let's hope they all survive this phase, until they're ready to pot up in big pots and then into the garden! ;-p