|
A lot of perennial plants can be grown by division.
This is a lot easier than taking cuttings, and
if you have friends, who have large gardens. You
can usually get your plants for free, By dividing
their plants up. You can get 50 to 100 little
plants from one large plant, which means if you
have a few friends with biggish gardens, you can
stock your whole nursery for free. Also Perennial
plants need dividing every two or three years.
So you are doing your friends a favour by having
all these free plants off them.
When should you divide perennials?
The best time to dig up and divide perennials
is late autumn through to early spring. Personally
I like to leave this until after Christmas, as
the plants start to shoot and grow in January.
How to divide your perennials
Dig around the plant and lift the root ball out
of the ground shaking it. Once you have got it
out of the ground kick as much soil away as possible.
Try make it so you can see all the buds of the
plant around the crown.
If possible pull the plant apart with your hands,
If not use a sharp knife. For larger plants you
may need to sharpen a spade to use. If you read
nearly every other book it will tell you to be
very careful, when you do this, and do not damage
any part of the plant. In reality whether you
use a knife, a spade, a fork or even a saw, 90%
of the plants you divide will live. When doing
it for myself I chop these perennials Into very
small pieces. I will sometimes get 200 small plants
out of a large plant. The one thing to remember
is try and get a piece of root connected to a
piece of the crown, if you manage this the plants
should grow.
PLANTS SUTABLE FOR DIVIDING
The easiest plants to divide are the perennial
plants listed below Including:
Achillia, Aconitum, Agapanthus, Alcea, Alstromeria,.Anemone,
Aster, Astilbe, Astrantia, Bergenia, Campanula,
Chleone, Crocosmia, Delphinium, Dicentra, Digitalis,
Echnacea, Erygium, Geranium (The perennial variety),
Hellenium, Helleborus, Hemerocallis, Hosta, Iris,
Kniphofia, Liatris, Lupins, Monarda, Paeonia,
Phlox, Primula, Rudbeckia, Salvia, Sedium, Sidelsea,
Tradescantai Trollis, Verbena, Verbascum, Veronica
a lot of other plants will divide, if you are
nor sure either look in the R.H.S propagation
guide or just try some.
The advantages of dividing perennials rather grown
them from seed, is you get bigger plants which
have more growth and flowers on them.
This means you can sell the plant faster, and
for more money. Most perennial plants you grow
from seed only flower in the second year, with
splitting the plant is already a few years old
so will flower the same season as you divide it.
When you do divide your perennials make sure you
repot them as soon as possible, if you are going
to be a few days make sure you put them in the
fridge for safe keeping.
About the Author:
For More Information On growing
plants to make money Click Here
|
