Plant Propagation Technique
Division is a form of plant propagation in which new plants are not grown from seeds or bulbs but are rather separated from the parent plant. There are several types. Parts already naturally rooted, such as strawberry runners and blackberry suckers, may be severed from the original plant and immediately transplanted. Alternatively, there may be a simple separation of parts not already rooted, such as tulip bulblets and hen-and-chicken offsets, that take root readily after being removed from the parent, especially at the close of the growing season. Similarly, certain types of cuttage as in handling cannas, rhubarb and various herbaceous perennials in which parts are simply cut or torn from the main clump of roots and crown, are also types of division.
Division methods vary widely. Rough division consists of using a sharp spade or axe to cut across large clumps of such plants as phlox, rhubarb, and many shrubs. The pieces are then dug and immediately replanted. Finer practices include digging and breaking clumps apart with the hand or fingers and then cutting them apart with a sharp knife. Other division methods incorporate stolons (slender branches), which naturally take root after being cut apart. Crowns or rooted buds that form towards the close of the growing season and push forward in the soil are often severed and planted. Tubers, short, thickened parts of underground branches are broken apart from the main stems and clumps and then planted separately. Still more specialized instances of division or separation are the bulblets formed in the leaf axils of Tiger Lilies and other kinds, as well as the fronds of various ferns.
Taken as a whole, division and separation are two of the easiest methods of propagation that amateur gardeners can utilize in increasing plants suited to these types of multiplication.
