Here’s how:
Place dry seeds in a plastic ziptop bag, with all the air squeezed out. Some gardeners add sphagnum peat moss, which raises the risk of rotting and is best avoided.
Place the bag in the refrigerator’s main compartment for three months.
After chilling, bring the bag to room temperature before opening it.
Scarify the seeds lightly with a nail file, then soak them overnight in tepid water.
The next day, dry them on a paper towel and sow one or two seeds about half an inch deep in three-inch pots filled with potting medium.
Place the containers in full sun.
Keep the soil moist but not soggy during germination.
When the seedlings sprout their first true leaves, thin them to one per pot.
After the last frost date for your region, transplant outdoors as discussed below.
Suckers
As mentioned, suckers grow up beside the shrubs in early spring. You can dig these up and plant elsewhere.
Use a long-handled shovel to dig around and six to eight inches below a clump of suckers.
Lift the entire clump of earth. Transplant the suckers as desired.
Softwood Cuttings
Carolina allspice roots easily from softwood cuttings, the tender new growth.
To do this, select a fresh, leafy stem and cut a section six inches from the tip, making your cut at a 45-degree angle.
Fill a six-inch container three-quarters full of potting medium.
Pinch off all of the leaves except a few at the tip.
Dip the cut end in rooting hormone powder.
Use a pencil or chopstick to make a three-inch hole in the center of the medium.
Push the cut stem gently into the hole and tamp the soil around it.
Water well, place in full sun, and keep the medium evenly moist.
New foliage indicates successful rooting, at which point you can transplant outdoors.
Ground Layering
Ground layering is the easiest way to start a new shrub.
In the spring, select a flexible, low, woody branch that bends readily to the ground.
About six inches from the leafy tip, girdle the bark in a two-inch strip about six inches from the tip, just deep enough to penetrate the outer bark layer.
Press the barkless section to the ground. Note where it touches and make a shallow depression in the soil and cover it with a mound of soil four to six inches deep.
Place a rock or brick on top of the mound.
By the following spring, roots should form at the wound. Cut the new plant free from the parent and transplant.
Transplanting
Whether you’ve grown a plant from seed, divided a sucker, rooted a cutting, or layered a branch, the transplanting process is the same.
Prepare a planting hole twice as wide and twice as deep as the root mass. Work the soil until it is friable and free of debris.
