Perennials grace our gardens year after year with their variety of brilliant colors and unique foliage forms. Perennials come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors and can bloom from early April until late October.
Some excellent perennial flowers for the area include the following: Blanket Flower (Gaillardia X ‘grandiflora’); Foxglove (Digitalis ‘purpurea’); Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos); Hostas; Garden Phlox (Phlox ‘paniculata’); Coneflowers (Echinacea sp); Rudbeckia; Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii); Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum x ‘superbum”)
Perennials are relatively easy to care for, but they are not maintenance free. Watering, fertilizing, mulching and dividing are some of the tasks involved with the care of perennials. After a few years in the garden, perennials may start to produce smaller blooms, develop a ‘bald spot’ at the center of their crown, or require staking to prevent their stems from falling over. All of these are signs that it is time to divide.
Reduced plant performance may not be the only reason to divide perennials.
Overcrowded plants compete for nutrients and water. Restricted airflow can lead to diseases.
Dividing the plants into smaller sections reduces this competition and stimulates new growth as well as more vigorous blooming.
Since plants grow at varying rates, division may be used to keep plants that spread rapidly under control.
Division is an easy and inexpensive way to increase the number of plants in your garden.
Guidelines for dividing perennials
When to divide
- Divide when the plant is not flowering so it can focus all of its energy on regenerating root and leaf tissue.
- Divide perennials on a cloudy, overcast day as dividing on a hot sunny day can cause the plants to dry out.
- Water the soil a day in advance if the area to be worked on is dry. Ideally, divide plants when there are a couple days of showers in the forecast to provide enough moisture for the new transplants.
How to divide perennials
- Dig up the parent plant using a spade or fork.
- Gently lift the plant out of the ground and remove any loose dirt around the roots.
- Separate the plant into smaller divisions by any of these methods:
- Gently pull or tease the roots apart with your hands;
- Cut them with a sharp knife or spade;
- Or put two forks in the center of the clump, back to back, and pull the forks apart.
- Each division should have three to five vigorous shoots and a healthy supply of roots.
- Keep these divisions shaded and moist until they are replanted.
Divide spring and summer blooming perennials in the fall because
- There is less gardening work to do in the fall compared with spring.
- It is easy to locate the plants that need dividing.
Perennials with fleshy roots such as Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta); Canna Lily (Canna) and Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) are best divided in the fall.
- When dividing plants in the fall, time it for four to six weeks before the ground freezes for the plants roots to become established.
Divide fall blooming perennials in the spring because
- New growth is emerging and it is easier to see what you are doing.
- Smaller leaves and shoots will not suffer as much damage as full-grown leaves and stems.
- Plants have stored up energy in their roots that will aid in their recovery.
- Rain showers that generally come along with the early season are helpful.
- Plants divided in spring have the entire growing season to recover before winter.
- Divide hosta in spring before they get too large.
Check out UGA Extension Publication, Flowering Perennials for Georgia Gardens, https://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B944
The author of this article, Phillip Prichard, is a Paulding UGA Extension Master Gardener, trained to provide education for homeowners on horticulture, sustainable landscaping, and environmentally friendly gardening practices using unbiased, research-based information from the University of Georgia. For more information, contact Paulding County UGA Extension at 770-443-7616 or view our online resources at www.ugaextension.org/paulding.
