Winterthur Garden Blog

 

Each spring I look forward to the flowering of the snowdrops (Galanthus spp.) and also to the task of dividing some of the larger clumps. There are a couple schools of thought of when the best time is to divide them, some say “in the green” just after flowering and others prefer to wait until the leaves start to die back. For the past ten years I have been doing it “in the green” and now have thousands of bulbs.

The images above show the process from flowering in-ground to digging to separating to the individual bulbs. Every year when I first see the tangle of roots I wonder “how am I going to get these apart”. I start off with gently removing as much soil as possible and then slowly but firmly pull sections apart. Yes, you will tear some roots but the bulbs survive. Once I have the smaller sections I use my fingers to gently tease the roots apart. This is where fingernails come in handy.

I prefer to do this work on cool days and out of the sun. I also immediately replant the bulbs and water them. The leaves, without the support of the clump, will most likely lie flat on the ground. That’s okay. They will be fine for next year.