My Indian pinks bloom nicely every year, but they do not seem to spread, and they come up awfully late, leaving a bare spot near the Dutchman’s breeches in early spring.
Indian pinks emerge about the time that the Dutchman’s breeches start going dormant, so essentially, the bare spot moves over. The answer to this traveling bare spot has been staring me in the face the whole time.
The Dutchman’s breeches keeled over and went dormant within a few days of when that photograph was taken. Not only do these two plants have aboveground time that barely overlaps, but their root systems occupy different layers in the soil. Indian pinks have tough, thick roots like cord that go straight down, and Dutchman’s breeches spend most of the year as tubers scattered at or near the surface.
In early spring, the Dutchman’s breeches are fabulous.
They hold well until 80° days start appearing, then they fade fast.
Dividing Dutchman’s Breeches
This plant is very easy to propagate via its very small tubers. Some of the tubers heave right out of the ground as the plants go dormant, making it easy to know where to dig.
Dig where you can see pink tubers. Using a poacher’s spade, go straight down, then scoop up.
Like an iceberg, there is a lot more out of sight than in sight. They break apart very easily, allowing you to propagate in swaths.
Put the Dutchman’s breeches aside, in the shade, as they will be just below the surface in their new spot. Whatever else is going in the bed, such as Indian pinks, will need to be planted first.
Dividing Indian Pinks
When you cannot find any information, it’s time to make educated guesses. Indian pinks have relatively thick, tough, wiry roots. These roots are closer to rue anemones than daylilies in size, but they share a stubborn ability to cling to each other when you try to separate them.
- Dig up a clump.
- Drop it energetically onto the ground to knock loose soil off.
- Look for a couple of spots from which growth emanates. Grab each between your thumb and forefinger.
- Twist one hand towards you and the other away. Twist back and forth until the roots loosen their grip on each other.
- Pull them apart— it may take wiggling and shaking to get them apart.
Dividing plants with fibrous roots. Drawn with Affinity Designer.
Whew!
Audition them in their new space until you are happy with the arrangement, then plant them, disturbing the soil no more than you have to—I like slots, but my soil has had plenty of organic matter added over many years. The plants will look pretty forlorn, but they will be okay.
Water them well to settle the soil around their roots.
Notice that while the stems are flopped over, most of the leaves are still relatively plump and standing proud of their stems. That tells you they have enough water. If the leaves start drooping and wrinkling a little, give the whole bed a good watering. Don’t wait too long! There is a point from which they will not be able to recover.
Never having worked with this plant before, I hedged my bets and dug up and divided only one of the two that I had—just in case.
Overplanting with Dutchman’s Breeches
What about the Dutchman’s breeches? If you look carefully at the photograph below, you can see a few spots of pink here and there—those are the tubers.
To plant the Dutchman’s breeches tubers, bury them just below the surface. If they break apart in your hands, just scatter the scales and scratch them in. This is how I propagated the original plant. You can be quite cavalier—your local inspectors general will be around to check your work anyway. Squirrels, ground or tree, are very nosy.
So How Is This Experiment Going?
The Indian pinks are recovering very nicely, despite the heat wave that we are several days into. We had a good soaking rain this morning, and they got their initial soaking after I planted them.
Several of these plants have a few flower buds. I will let them bloom, but pick off the flowers as they fade so that the plants can concentrate on growing roots and leaves.