Home Grown Notions: Dividing Spring Perennials

by Beth Cook, Mammoth Cave Transplants
Perennials grow fuller and more beautiful with each passing year. Some multiply more rapidly than others and eventually they outgrow their allotted space. They begin to become overcrowded can cause a decline in the plant. This is the reason we need to divide and separate to allow sufficient growth and for the plant to prosper in our gardens.

Start digging around the plants drip line of the plant and lift and divide. Most gardeners are hesitant to divide because they think “more is better” which is far from the truth. Crowding equates to smaller and smaller plants and flowers. On average, it’s best to divide every three years, but for the more rapid growing perennials, it can be done sooner.

It is best to be done on a case by case basis when you start noticing a plant's decline. Watch for less blooms and spindly stems. One rule of thumb for division is this:  perennials that flower between early spring and mid June are best divided in early fall.  Perennials that flower after mid June are best divided in the spring.

Some perennials to be divided now in the Spring are daylilies, hostas, ornamental grasses, bee balm, mums, asters, blanket flower, as well as many others. Some perennials don’t do well when they are divided. These include: Baptisia,Bleeding heart (Dicentra), Butterfly weed (Asclepias), Christmas rose (Helleborus), Gas plant (Dictamnus), Lavender (Lavandula), Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale).

Remember when you are dividing your perennials and replanting them, to share with your gardening friends! 
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~The best way to multiply your happiness is to share it with others..