I started Sweet William from seed for my granddaughter’s “pink” container. Everything was going great until I realized that this is biennial plant. It was taking up way to much room in the container so I moved it to the garden.
It did not bloom last year but is coming up nicely in the garden (zone 4). However, it is way to large (12-14” x 8-10”) for her pink container this year. Can it be divided? And if so, how ?
This plant is a prernnial here. It stays evergreen here and most of the time has at least a few blooms in the winter. I just dig up a plant(getting as much of the root ball as possible) and cut it apart with a large sharp knife or a small gargen saw. I just dug up a very large Spider Wort plant. I cut it in half, then took 1/2 and cut it into three pieces. I will get six plants out of one. Part the stems first because you don't want to cut off any more stems than you can help. I hope this helps.
I have had the same experience's as smokey with dividing the sweet williams. This is the result of dividing 4 plants last year and these are planted much to thick in these containers. By the time these get divided this fall........I will have a bunch of them.
Thanks for your help. Hopefully, I will get some better weather for gardening soon so I can get back to it and divide the Sweet William. Also, your advice to part the stems first was extremely helpful. ….Don’t know that I would have done that.
You also made me curious about the Spider Wort plant. Did some research and a “Little Doll” may be a perfect solution for a wet spot I have in one corner of the garden.
Thanks for your post and pic. I have two Sweet William plants in the garden and look forward to getting them divided and one of the appropriate size in my granddaughter’s pink container.
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