Split It Or Leave It?

We are now in Autumn and that means one of the big seasonal jobs is the dividing of perennials and bulbs and the like.

With this job comes the question of whether plants need splitting or not. Not all do. Last year, for instance, I divided my Hostas and so I know they won't need anything doing to them. None of my bulbs out in the garden are crowding and I don't have many other cluster plants that need this kind of attention.

Then we come inside and I do have a couple of exhibits where I do need to question what I want to do. 

First up is my wife's Albuca Spiralis. It's in fine growth again so far. Lots of new leaves thrown up and they are curling nicely in the late autumn sun. With all this great growth has been the fact that the bulb has split... Or it has grown another one... Whatever. The fact is that I now have two separate growth points from what appears to be two bulbs or possibly corms? 

This one I'm *NOT* going to split. There is still plenty of space in there and the new growth shows it's obviously not under any stress so 'Leave it' seems to be the best course of action for this one. Although I'm pondering getting some stones to put over the top of the soil. This plant likes the soil to be dried out between waterings and this makes the soil look... well, less than pretty. We shall see. 

Next up is my Amaryllis. This is a no-brainer. This one HAS to be split. Obviously I'm not going to do it now, I will have to wait for the foliage to finish dying back. But once it's dried off I will give it a snip on the top and a careful dividing on the bottom.  

I have been really impressed with these Amaryllis. My original bulb split last year and now the progeny of that splitting has split this year. Not bad, eh? B-)

Still trying to work out how to get it in a nicer pot though. B-(