Perennial divisions

In my area, Zone 5 of Northern Indiana, now is a great time for dividing perennials. It is really easy to find ideal spots for your divisions as the plants are sending up their shoots (see photo to right). For example, in my yard, I have lots of hostas. Hostas need to be divided every few years in order to perform well in the landscape. Due to their size and fairly delicate leaves, Hostas can be difficult to divide in the fall; although they can be divided in either the fall or spring. I prefer to do mine in the spring since it's so much easier.
By looking straight down onto a Hosta plant that needs to be divided, you will usually see some clumps of leaf shoots. They are often like small circles (see photo to left). In order to divide them up nicely, you will need to dig up the entire plant. First, be sure to remove any debris in and around the plant. You'll see in my photos, that fallen leaves litter the plant. They should be removed before starting this process. Start by digging a circle around the entire plant with your shovel. Your circle should be a few inches away from the edge of the plant. Then, use your shovel to gently lift the plant and all of it's roots. Once your plant is loose, you can use a shovel, spade, or other flat garden tool to divide the clumps. Simply slice through the plant, top to bottom, in the desired areas. Then, you can lift the divided clumps and plant them in new places or give them to friends. I planted mine in a new place in my shady garden, and then added a slow release fertilizer (see photo below). Regular water is also very important, as it is with any newly planted plant.

Fickle Mother Nature

This morning was a real shocker. I woke up to a blanket of really heavy, wet snow on my lawn, garden, and trees. Snow alone really isn't all that bad for the plants. It can actually offer plants some protection from cold air temps. Today, however, wasn't really all that cold. It was around freezing, so everything is really wet and slushy. We've also been getting sleet, which is no fun either. On the plus side, I think the snow is absolutely gorgeous, and I do love images of snow on plants and flowers.

Cold weather 'a comin'

Well, this unusually warm, spring-like weather is about to end for us here in Northern Indiana. We are supposed to get severe storms this evening and snow by tomorrow morning! Compared with today, which is about 70 degrees, this will be a really frigid blast. I figured that my blooming daffodils will either be beaten by the storms this evening or ruined by the cold air, so I cut most of the ones that were already in bloom. I am leaving all the ones with buds and ones that don't even have buds yet, hoping that the freezing cold doesn't do any damage to them.

On the bright side of this all, I was able to bring some gorgeous daffodils inside for some springy flower arrangements. I even cut some spirea branches and used them to accent the daffodils in my larger vase. They are brightening up my kitchen, and giving me some hope that spring will return again.

Signs of Spring!

I'm finally seeing some fun signs of spring in my yard. The daffodils (see first picture) started blooming this week and lots of perennials (such as bleeding hearts, second photo) are starting to pop up out of the ground. I've also done a ton of yardwork during the past week.
Weed pulling has been my biggest chore. If you live in an area like mine, where the ground is still pretty soft, now is a great time to pull weeds. They come out of the ground easily, and they probably haven't had the chance to flower yet. There are a few flowering in my yard, but most of them aren't that mature yet.
It's also a good time to cut bad old perennial foliage that has been left to dry all winter long. Trim them back now so you can enjoy the beauty of the new growth. Removing old plant debris reduces the chances of having disease or pest problems around your plants.
New growth is also popping up on a lot of shrubs. I really dislike the spireas in my yard, and have gotten rid of all but two, however I love the lime green leaves they are getting right now (see third photo). They are so bright, they almost look like flowers. Unfortunately, those leaves will soon grow and I'll be annoyed by the shrub's weedy look again. They just grow too doggone fast and clog up an otherwise pretty landscape very quickly. The two spireas in my yard keep my dog out of a planting area, so I'm keeping them even though I'm not in love with them.