grafting shrubs

[shirlton]

I want to graft some spirea to make a standard. Does anyone know what sort of root stock I would need.

[shirlton]

anyone ??

[grawrc]

I don't really know much about it, Shirl, but I found this http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=443 which seems to suggest you should graft it onto its own species?

I suppose it depends why you are doing it and what you want to achieve.

[laurieuk]

Depending on what spirea you want as a standard surely you can train it into a standard rather than trying to graft it.

[shirlton]

Thanks to both of you.
I cannot grow the goldflame up as a standard because it is too spindly so I am going to graft some of it onto another  long white flowered species that grows very strong stems.

[Kleftiwallah]

Why not try growing three spindly stems then as they grow plaiting them together ?    Cheers,      Tony.

[shirlton]

Thats another idea Thanks Tony