MORE DIVIDING TIPS

I spent the day yesterday getting things in the garden cleaned up for fall and the cold, winter months ahead.  This is the perfect time to divide many perennials. I've been dividing my Asiatic lilies, Daylilies, Hosta, and Tall Bearded Iris, because, as you can see by the collage, they have become too big, or over-crowded, and, in the case of the Asiatic lily, their bloom size had suffered.

• Hosta emerge a little late in spring, and so it is preferable to divide in fall, although they can be divided any time. The rootball will be divided up like a pie.  After digging up, using a pitchfork, cut through those divisions with a sharp knife or a shovel, then replant the divisions. 
• Bearded Iris should be divided by now--they need at least 6 weeks before the first frost to give them time to securely root before winter.  If you still have some dividing of your tall bearded iris and don't want to risk them not rooting,  just take out the ones that are growing on top of others, or the very small tubers, leaving room between the rhizomes that you keep, not uprooting them.  In this way, you will be "thinning" them, not uprooting and replanting.  
• Daylilies are easy to divide--and can be divided without even digging up. Cut from the base of the plant, into the sections you want, then replant, or give to friends and neighbors--they'll love you!  I dug up a big daylily yesterday because I wanted to move its location in the garden.  After digging, I was able to easily divide it into several pieces by gently pulling it apart.  After planting 7-8 sections I still have several sections to share with others.  
• Asiatic lilies need to be divided when their blooms start to suffer and their stems become smaller and more spindly.  Carefully dig the bulbs, then replant the biggest ones, about 6 inches deep, and 4-6" apart.  The littler bulbs can be planted somewhere where they will have a chance to grow bigger, then replanted in the garden, or just discarded.