Dogbane Photos

Dogbane (Apocynum cannabinum) in late summer. Note the yellowing of some of the leaves. In the fall the leaves will all turn a bright yellow. This is the time to spot new patches. This plant, and the whole patch, was nearly replaced by the sterile vineyard in the background, but was saved by some dedicated people.

Dogbane has milky sap like it's relative milkweed. The stalks are harvested when the plant is dormant and nearly all of the sticky sap has gone back into the roots. What is left of the latex is degraded as the plants sit in the field, so it is best to harvest stalks as late as possible but before the fiber begins to rot and weaken.

Pieces of root ready to propagate. The larger crowns with well developed buds and emerging shoots can go straight into a good potting mix in "one gallon" pots. The smaller pieces are bedded in sand or another good rooting medium and kept damp until some roots are developed.

Root pieces bedded in sand. After covering with 3/4" of sand or so, they are kept damp in the shade until many of them have 4 to 7 inch green shoots. Then they are all washed gently from the sand so as not to damage the delicate new roots, and the ones with at least a little root are potted up while the rest are returned to the sand or rooting medium until they grow some roots and sprout. Grow plants in pots for at least a year before attempting to plant out unless planting into a well tended garden bed type of situation. Once established they may spread prolifically depending on the environment. They like good soil and plenty of water.

A nice big dogbane root harvested when dormant in the winter or very early spring can be divided into many root cuttings and two or three crowns each of which has the potential to produce a new plant. The roots run very deep. This one probably kept going at least several feet. We have never gotten to the end of one yet. Some patches will not bear the impact of harvesting root stocks well, in which case you can look for seeds in the fall. This one is from a healthy patch on a city lot where it is just a matter of time until it is replaced by a building.