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Trusty Perennials You Should Avoid Dividing In The Garden
By MICHELLE MILEY
Lavender
Lavender doesn’t divide well, as it branches off a central stem. However, lower branches often sprout roots, so you can grow a new plant by digging up and planting them.
Hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, it likes full sun, well-drained soil, and spring pruning. It needs little to no water or fertilizer, and you can deadhead blossoms for a second bloom.
Rosemary
These shrubs can die if you try to divide them, but you can propagate them by taking cuttings, dipping them in rooting compound, and planting them in pots or in the garden.
Water rosemary regularly during its first summer, and prune it after it flowers. It’s hardy down to USDA zone 7, but you must apply mulch in the fall to help it survive winter.
Red Hot Pokers
Avoid dividing mature red hot pokers, but you can dig out and separate its pups (smaller plants growing around the mother) with a sharp spade and transplant them.
Plant the pups in full sun and well-drained soil, and give them 1 inch of water a week during summer. Every spring, add a few inches of organic mulch and prune them to 3 inches.
Baby's Breath
It’s difficult to divide baby's breath’s single taproot when it’s long unless it has smaller taproots you can take, and damaging the parent taproot can kill the plant.
Instead, grow it from seeds or cuttings in well-drained soil. It likes full sun in cool areas and shade in hotter areas, but don’t feed it or it’ll grow leaves instead of flowers.
Butterfly Weed
Butterfly weed also has a long taproot that is hard to divide. Rather, harvest the seeds, store them in a cold place for a few weeks, then sow them in the garden.
Hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9, butterfly weed likes full sun and well-drained, sandy soil with no fertilizer. To curb its prolific self-seeding, cut it back to a few inches each fall.