Divide and Conquer

 A wet and soggy spring is the perfect time to divide or relocate perennials.  The ground is soft and they can wake up in their new spots and start growing without being set back by a move.

Last fall when we cut back the foliage I attempted to divide this huge Black Eyed Susan.  It just wasn't going to happen.  The hard root ball simply deflected my transplant spade.  I decided to wait until spring hoping that saturated soil and dormant roots would be a little easier to deal with.  And I carried a large butcher knife with me just in case.  I figured if all else failed I could stab it down the middle to make way for my spade.

But it wasn't necessary.  My spade easily cut the soggy roots and dead stems right down the middle.  I wanted to reduce the clump by half but not unnecessarily disturb what I was leaving behind.  To remove the clump you need a garden fork and some leverage.

I took the right half out but some growth hung on around the edge effectively removing the center.  I'm not real thrilled about having the center wide open so when this begins to grow I will probably pull some of the stragglers out and reposition them.

I had a nice big clump to plant in an empty spot I prepared last fall.  There were a few single little plants that broke away during the move.  I potted them up and stuck them over by the compost pile to fend for themselves.  I am not sure which strain of Rudbeckia this is (there are four and I've planted a couple over the years) but it sure is a nice plant and I wouldn't mind having some more of it.