Dividing Perennials

by Pat Tormey “Many home gardeners have found that the process of division is more traumatic to them, the gardener, than it is to the perennial.” www.cce.cornell.edu/chemung
Ah, if only we could put in our flowering plants and forget them. Unfortunately, most perennials, those ‘backbones’ of the garden, may require occasional division in order to thrive.As your plants grow over the years with new stems and new roots, they become over-crowded.The plant may look larger, but each stem is actually smaller and weaker.
If your perennial plants show any of the following, it may be time to rejuvenate them through division: 1.The flower quantity or flower size is reduced. 2.The stems and branches are tangled. 3.The center of the plant dies leaving a doughnut of new growth around the perimeter. 4.The plant loses vigor, flopping over or requiring staking when it never did before, or the leaves are paler or yellow. 5.The plant has out-grown the space you have given it.This is especially likely if it grow