How to divide a plant

Has anyone ever said to you, "These plants are getting too big.  I should really divide them."  Well, my mom said that to me once.  She was talking about day lillies.  I didn't really know what she meant.  I got some idea that you would take the plant apart into different pieces, but how?

Well, now I know how.  It's really easy: just saw it in half!

The botanical interns, including me, divided plants for Missy, who runs the greenhouse.  We were dividing grasses.  Literally, we just took them out of their pots, and began sawing the root ball in half.  Here's Dani giving a demonstration.  (Sorry for the yellow color.)

And here's the grass after it's been divided:

 

After sawing the root ball in half, you just stick the two halves in the two different pots laying there, and voila!  You've divided your plants!

To do this job, you may want to use a gardener's saw:

Picture from Made-In-China.com

You can also just use a shovel.  While the plant's still in the ground, just stick the point of the shovel in the middle of the plant and shove it downwards.  With one chop, your plant has been divided!  Pretty cool, eh?