Although it's best to wait until the foliage yellows sometimes I've not been able to and so have dug right after bloom (or no bloom! if they are really crowded) time and put them in a holding bed and kept them well watered. It may take them a year longer but they do mature...I have a large bed of bulbs which all were dug crowded and not blooming and this year about third of them bloomed and I'm giving them good compost and assuming that they will all eventually rebound. That said, I'd welcome an tips for those of us who sometimes have to move at less than optimal times. thanks Deborah

I wondered about issues like that in the fall. I gather early spring as they're just starting to put out new growth is the best time to transplant/divide?

I have always divided in the spring as soon as the sprouts appear big enough to be seen properly. Interesting info keesha! I am going to have to look closer at the hosta this year and see how they look. Maybe I will have to give it a try. I never really thought about whether they were nicely rounded mounds.....I am kind of a 'plant it and be grateful it grows' kind of gardener,:) so unless something is extremely unruly or floppy, I don't really think about it, although I am always impressed when I do see a beautifully shaped plant in the garden. gg

what they said.. but lets simplify it a bit ... the plant itself doesnt matter.. there need not be different rules for different plants .. in this regard ... the simple question is.. do you want flowers this year ... if you do ... you sharpen your shovel.. and cut away half.. the half left.. will probably bloom ... with no insult to the root mass left ... if you simply plot the other half in a new spot.. and treat it well.. it will also probably bloom .. but might not ... if you divide the second half.. into a bazillion little pieces ... they might bloom next year ... never forget.. flowering is sexual maturity ... and a babe has to grow a mature root mass ... to flower above ... so the smaller you go on dividing.. the longer it will take to clump and flower ... you need the simple rule .. because.. often .. you have to do.. what you have to do.. when you have the time ... too many projects get left behind.. and never done.. because you think.. oh.. i will come back and do that in fall .. and then next spring.. you are standing there.. back at square one ... lol ken