I bought a kit from Lee Valley Tools that purports to make air layering easy. Before now, I would never have bothered; it seemed entirely too daunting. But faced with the prospect of having to either buy tons of shrubs from the garden center or tend tiny cuttings for two or three years, I thought I’d invest $35 or so and give it a shot.

Yesterday I found two branches on the Magnolia grandiflora in the front yard–two branches that tend not to get climbed on by the kids–and applied the kit. I also tried it on a gardenia in the back.
It should take 4 to 8 weeks to see results. Stay tuned.