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Divide and Multiply
By Linda Bronsdon
A Charles County Master Gardener
When answering questions on propagating plants, gardeners will be happy to learn not only do many plants need to be divided to thrive and flower, but also divisions may yield more plants over the years. After more than 15 years successfully and frugally multiplying plant yields by divisions, I often call myself the "Great Divider."
As pictured at top, use a shovel to dig around the root ball to loosen the plant. Above, lift the ball from the ground. Below, some plants may be divided by hand while others my need tools, such as a saw, knife with serrated blade, or even an ax. Last, Plant your new plants around your yard or give as gifts.
My first attempt at division was dividing a clump of liriope, also commonly known as lilyturf. The plant has tiny purple shoots in the fall and looks like a short green grass the rest of the year. Like most homeowners, my first plants came with the installation of shrubbery by a local nursery.
After a few years, the plants stopped blooming. I no longer remember who first told me the plants did not flower because the stalks were too tight and needed to be divided. However, I am still happy each time I lift up a fat clump and divide the tangle of roots into a family of smaller plants. Offspring from my initial four plants have been given to neighbors, planted at church, moved to my new home, and given to each teacher at my son's school for teachers' appreciation day.
Ornamental grasses are also easy to propagate by divisions. When grasses "doughnut"-form a healthy, outer circle but the inside is dead with rotten stalks-it is time to divide. Unfortunately, ornamental grasses, red-hot poker, and other plants with tough, vigorous roots need tools for dividing. I have resorted to using an ax and even a saw for very dense clusters of roots, although the pictures in gardening books tend to show an already loose-looking clump being gently pried apart with two of those gardening claws used for weeding.
When to divide a plant generally depends on when the plant blooms, though many plants may be divided in either the spring or the fall. I learned the hard way that black-eyed Susan does not survive fall divisions if the flower stalks have turned black during an excessively hot summer. I have also lost grasses that were too small a division leaving no strength to survive a hot, dry August.
While MGs may be old hands at propagating plants by division, explaining how to propagate to those seeking guidance will result in happier gardeners with more plants.
For more information, contact Marcia A Wakefield
Last updated: 11/3/2009
CCMG Meet FHFH At Annual Bug Day
Master Gardeners participating in Bug Day activities in Newburg on September 22, heard guest speaker Steve White's talk on providing food for the hungry through Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.
FHFH is a nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with state wildlife departments, sportsmen's associations, farm bureaus, and food banks in order to provide nutritious food for the hungry.
Southern Maryland Food Bank, Children's Aide Society, and St. Pauls (Leonardtown) are a few of the organizations benefiting from this effort.
Download FHFH information made available at the event: