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    Dividing Native Plants

    Parks | Education | Education Programs | Virtual Learning | Online Nature Center | Articles | Dividing Native Plants
    Species that should be divided in spring (every 1 - 3 years):
    • Asters  (frequent division advised; replant small, healthy pieces from the outside of the clump)
    • Foxglove beardtongue (use spade or pitchfork)
    • Bee balm (discard old central clump)
    • Cardinal flower (discard old central clump)
    • Coral bells (discard old central clump)
    • Foamflower (divide by hand)
    • Hyssop (carefully divide woody roots)
    • Joe Pye weed (slice woody crown with knife)
    • Liatris (cut into sections with sharp knife)
    • Marsh marigold (after flowering--May or June)
    • Obedient plant
    • Sneezeweed
    • Sunflower (regular division improves vigor)
    • Coreopsis (cut crown apart with sharp knife)
    • Violets (divide by hand)
    • Yarrow (discard old woody core)
    Species that should be divided in spring (every 4 – 6 years):
    • Black-eyed Susan (divide using spade or pitchfork; will re-seed; can also be divided in fall)
    • Culver’s root
    • Echinacea (cut crown apart with sharp knife; will re-seed; can also be divided in early fall)
    • Goldenrod (divide using spade or pitchfork; can also be divided in fall)
    • Spiderwort
    • Stonecrop (divide by hand)
    • Turtlehead (when young offshoots are 1” high, use spade to separate them from the parent plant)
    • Virginia bluebells
    • Wild ginger (use sharp knife to cut the rhizome)
    These species should rarely be divided, but can be divided in spring:
    • Bleeding heart (cut crown apart with sharp knife; be careful when handling brittle roots)
    • Columbine (dig deep to get all tapering, finger-like roots)
    • Cranesbill/wild geranium (cut or pull apart)
    • False blue indigo (difficult to re-establish, dig deep to remove entire root system)
    • Jacob’s ladder (divide by hand)
    • Meadow rue (slow to recover from division)
    • Milkweed (taproot is deep and brittle; take care and cut crown apart with sharp knife)
    • Rose mallow (can divide in fall also)
    • Black snakeroot (discard woody central clump; slow to recover)
    • Solomon’s seal (use sharp knife to cut up knobby rootstock)
    • Trillium (does not like disturbance
    Most ferns and sedges can be divided annually or as needed in spring:
    • Cinnamon fern
    • Lady fern (use sharp knife to cut rootstock; can also be divided in fall)
    • Maidenhair fern
    • Ostrich fern (use sharp knife or pruner to cut the rhizome connecting individual plants)
    • Sensitive fern (can be divided in fall as well)
    Divide sedges with a spade or pitchfork
     
    Jack-in-the-pulpit offshoots should be divided in fall after the plant goes dormant 

    Learn more about Gardening With Native Plants 
    Learn more about Landscaping for Biodiversity with Ohio Native Plants: A Species Guide for Plantings
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