Pachysandra

PACHYSANDRA WAS wildly popular a while back as the ground cover, and it still commands high prices at nurseries. If you know someone who has a vigorous established planting, ask if you can prune it this summer. Without uprooting their lovely landscape or spending a penny, you can gather your own ground-cover plants. Here's how:

With a plastic garbage bag in hand, show up in midsummer when your friend's pachysandra plants have put out new top growth. Go through the planting and cut off each top leaf cluster with its stem. (This is good for your friend's planting; it will spur lush new growth.)

Place the cuttings into the bag as you go. As soon as you've harvested as many as you want, sprinkle the cuttings with water to keep them from drying out.

Back at your house, soak the prepared planting site until it is mushy. To make holes for the cuttings, plunge a pencil down into the wet soil to a depth of at least 3 inches (8 cm) and at a 45-degree angle. Push a cutting into the hole, firm the soil around it, and move on, planting the next cutting about 4 inches (10 cm) away. Repeat until all the cuttings are planted.

Soak the planting area again. For the next four weeks, keep it wet, even soggy. After that, as the cuttings root, back off on the watering. Your new plants should be well established by late summer.