{"id":253,"date":"2011-04-25T05:25:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T13:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=253"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"a-time-of-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/a-time-of-division\/","title":{"rendered":"A Time of Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TIME OF DIVISION
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>At long last, spring appears to be committing itself to this area.\u00a0 Even the cold nights are getting warmer and occasionally we see glimpses of sunlight during the day.\u00a0 The early daffodils have folded their tents and dropped their petals, beginning the long process of preparing for next season’s blooms.\u00a0 The mid-season daffodils will do the same thing shortly and the late-season bloomers are coming into their glory.\u00a0 All of this means two things–it is time to gaze appreciatively at the tulips and think about dividing the daffodils.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you know if your daffodils need dividing?\u00a0 If you have big, established clumps that have been around for more than three or four years, they are probably ripe for division.\u00a0 If those clumps have produced lots of blooms in years past, but have underwhelmed you this year, chances are you should help them out with timely action.\u00a0 Crowded daffodils also tend to produce flowers around the outside of the clump, but not in the middle.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dividing is not hard, no matter what people say.\u00a0 All it takes is a good brain, a sharp spade, some compost and a little patience.\u00a0 A kneeler comes in handy as well.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After an overcrowded clump of daffodils finishes blooming for the season, dig gently but decisively around and under the entire clump and lift it out of the ground.\u00a0 If the leaves are still green, do not remove them, even if they seem to get in your way.\u00a0 The plants still need them.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brush off the excess dirt and pull apart the clump into two, three or even four pieces.\u00a0 You should be able to do this with your fingers.\u00a0 Place one of the divisions back in the original hole, adding compost or other organic material as you do.\u00a0 Be sure to plant at the same depth as the original clump.\u00a0 Install the other divisions in other places.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think it is impossible to run out of room for daffodils, but if you have found a way to do it, pot up the divisions and give them to friends.\u00a0 If you do not have friends who would appreciate such gifts, ask your local cooperative extension agent if he or she knows an organization or institution that might be able to use them.\u00a0 Churches, temples and other houses of worship often accept such donations to help beautify their grounds.\u00a0 Personally, I think if you don’t have a friend who would appreciate your divisions, you need a wider circle of friends.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 While you are dividing, consider installing some ground covering plants around the new divisions.\u00a0 Ground covers help to mitigate daffodils’ major deficiency–ugly after-bloom foliage.\u00a0 For a time after the flowers disappear, the leaves are attractive and valuable for photosynthesis, converting and storing the sun’s energy to strengthen and renew the plants.\u00a0 As they age, though, they start to become brown and scrawny, spoiling the looks if the beds that were so glorious when the flowers were in bloom.\u00a0 Earlier generations of tidy gardeners used to cut off the foliage right after bloom or braid it into neat little bundles.\u00a0 Neither of these methods does the plants any good and most gardeners have abandoned them.\u00a0 Those of us with lots of daffodils would never have braided anyway.\u00a0 There is too much else to do in the spring garden.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are scores of ground cover plants, but to hide the unsightly aftermath of daffodil glory, you really need something that grows six to eight inches tall with enough foliage to hide the remains of the early spring days.\u00a0 My favorite plant for this is big-root geranium or Geranium macrorrhizum.\u00a0 These plants, which are widely available through garden centers and mail-order vendors, have dark green palmate foliage and small, five-petaled pink flowers that bloom in late spring.\u00a0 They prefer full sun, but will bloom in light shade as well.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Happy big-root geranium plants will establish themselves quickly and grow into clumps within a year or two.\u00a0 Daffodils have no trouble growing up through the clumps and the leaves disappear into them once bloom time is over.\u00a0 The geraniums give extra value for the money by providing scented, deer resistant foliage that reddens nicely in the fall.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another plant that can provide cover is the celandine or golden wood poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum.\u00a0 As you might expect from the name, the blossoms are poppy-like and bright yellow.\u00a0 The leaves are deeply dissected and resemble those of buttercups.\u00a0 Celandines can take more shade than big-root geraniums, which is especially handy if you are trying to cover up daffodil foliage under deciduous trees that are in the process of leafing out and shading growing areas.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Established celandines require absolutely no care.\u00a0 Though they only bloom once a season, the leaves are attractive and persistent.\u00a0 The main problem with celandines is that they spread vigorously.\u00a0 However, the young plants are easy to grub out or dig up to be transplanted to empty garden spots or given to those garden friends that everyone should have.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So divide your daffodils without delay–while you can still see the plants–and start a good cover-up to hide their remains.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Order celandines from ForestFarm, 990 Tetherow Road, Williams, OR 97544; (541)846-7269; <\/font><\/font>www.forestfarm.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Catalog free to US residents and $5.00 in Canada.\u00a0 Big root geranium is available from Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Road, Madison, OH, (800) 852-5243; <\/font>www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/font><\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A TIME OF DIVISION \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At long last, spring appears to be committing itself to this area.\u00a0 Even the cold nights are getting warmer and occasionally we see glimpses of sunlight during the day.\u00a0 The early daffodils have folded their tents and dropped their petals, beginning the long process of preparing for next season’s blooms.\u00a0 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1538,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253\/revisions\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}