Dividing Hostas.......you may, but please...DON'T! Hostas are loved because you CAN divide them to propagate and share with friends. The question becomes: “Just because you can, should you divide?” Lets look at the facts. or sometimes...just a shovel Fact 1: Hostas do not REQUIRE division to maintain health and vigor. Hostas are ‘monocots’ and have a more primitive root system than the more modern ‘dicots’ we see in most of our garden perennials. The more fibrous rooted dicots require periodic dividing to stimulate development and bloom. Hostas do not. Fact 2: Hostas that are repeatedly divided never attain ‘mature’ status. Dividing produces a ‘younger’ plant. Many of the interesting and beautiful characteristics like large leaf size, deep veining, puckering and definitive color may not develop completely until a clump is well beyond five years old. Excessive dividing denies you the joy of seeing a truly gorgeous specimen come up year after year in your garden. Fact 3: Hostas do not grow and enlarge ‘forever’. Many times a gardener has explained to me that their plant will ‘take over the whole garden’ if they do not continually divide it. Nonsense. These gardeners have inadvertently planted a ‘St. Bernard’ hosta in a ‘Chihuahua’ space. Hostas will expand for three to five years—the larger hostas taking longer to reach this ‘terminal’ size. Once that maximum size is attained, the hosta pretty well stops its encroachment on its neighbors. If you know the size of the hosta you are planting.and.leave enough empty space around it in year ‘one’. You will have a majestic ‘uncrowded’ beauty five years later at maturity. It takes guts to plant a single division of montana ‘Aureomarginata’ in a bare circle five feet across and have faith that ‘hole’ will be filled in the future. BUT IT WILL! So keep the faith. You will be rewarded. And if you have a line of plants that you are continually dividing in half because they are planted too closely, maybe just remove every other plant and let them fill in. You will be happier and so will your hostas. REMEMBER: There are times when it may be necessary to divide a hosta. When that time is evident, do not hesitate to grab the ol’ butcher knife. But in general, if you don’t have to---don’t. 