Breathe New Life Into Older Perennials in October – And Boost Your Blooms by Dividing These Plants

The warm soils and abundant moisture in October make it an ideal time to add to flower beds and borders. You can treat yourself to new additions, or an excellent budget-friendly way is to divide existing perennials. Here are seven beautiful perennials to divide in October to get lots of new plants for free.

It is a great time for dividing perennial plants. Doing so reinvigorates older clumps that may be in decline and turns large plants that may be outgrowing their space into new, smaller ones to dot around the garden. Provided you can give them at least four weeks after transplanting until the first ground frost, the window for dividing plants is open.

When you think about what to plant in October, it can be easy to be swayed by the new possibilities. But look around your garden for any of your best perennials that maybe aren’t flowering as well, as these can be reinvigorated by dividing plants. All you need is a garden spade (like this perennial spade on Amazon) and a vision. Here are seven perennials to divide in October that you may have around your garden.

The Best Perennials to Divide in October – Part II

Back in 2025, I wrote a piece highlighting seven popular perennials to divide in October. All of those plants, including the ever-admired hostas, daylilies, peonies, and black-eyed Susan, deserve a place on your fall gardening checklist – so look at that article. Also, there are a lot more great plants you can divide this month, so let’s take a close look at seven more:

Bee Balm

Bee balm is a fantastic native plant if you want to see lots of pollinators. It is best described as a specialist pollinator plant, known for attracting huge numbers of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to its nectar-rich, tubular flowers during the season.

The perennial, also known as monarda, spreads over time via underground rhizomes. It is recommended to divide any monarda variety every few years to control the spreading and keep the clump vigorous and flowering strongly. Smaller plants are also less susceptible to powdery mildew than larger bee balm clumps.

When you grow bee balm, aim to divide it every three years. This can be done either in the spring or the fall. Dig up the clump and divide into new sections with a sharp spade or knife (a hori-hori knife, available on Amazon, is a great tool for dividing) – you can discard the woody, unproductive center. Plant the pieces into a sunny spot with moist, well-draining soil.

Phlox

Phlox is a popular perennial for flower beds and containers thanks to its habit of putting on a profuse show of small, scented summer blooms. There are almost 70 different phlox species that come in a range of colors, sizes, and growth habits.

Perennial phlox are low-maintenance additions for any garden – but not no-maintenance. Any gardener who grows phlox needs to divide plants every few years. This is mainly due to the plant’s tendency to spread outward from the center, leaving a bare gap in the middle of the clump.

Divide phlox in the fall to rejuvenate older clumps and get new pieces to plant around your beds, or to grow phlox in pots. Dig up the plant and divide into sections, each with at least two shoots and a portion of healthy roots.

Plant your new phlox pieces into a sunny spot. After dividing in the fall, it is good practice to add a thick layer of mulch (such as straw mulch, available at Walmart) around the plants to stop the soil from freezing and thawing over the winter. This is called frost heave and can lift plants out of the soil.

Coneflower

These native plants are long-flowering perennials and the vivid daisy-like flowers are a popular sight in prairie planting schemes. There are coneflower varieties in lots of bright colors that burst into show in late summer and early fall. When you grow a coneflower you like, it will be a reliable plant to divide come October.

If you divide a coneflower every 3-4 years, you will get the best display. The plant spreads via both underground rhizomes and by self-seeding. Over the years, a clump gets congested and the flowering is impacted. If you divide the clump, it stays vigorous so you can enjoy a better display of blooms.

The dense roots of coneflowers can be cut with a sharp knife or spade. Any piece needs a section of rhizome and healthy fibrous roots, as well as two or three stems above the surface.

Replant the new pieces at the original depth and water them thoroughly. The soil needs to remain moist to help the plants establish. A soil moisture meter, available on Amazon, gives you instant results on whether you need to water plants.

Bleeding Heart

Formerly known as Dicentra spectabilis but reclassified as Lamprocapnos spectabilis, bleeding heart is a unique and beautiful perennial. The plant has heart-shaped flowers in shades of red, pink, or white that hang from arching stems in late spring and early summer.

It is a delicate sight, but the plants are hardy down to US hardiness zone 3, though it varies by variety. Another great reason to grow bleeding heart is that they can grow in often trickier, shadier spots in the garden. They are underrated shade plants, preferring darker corners, as full sun can damage their foliage.

If you want to divide bleeding heart in the fall, carefully dig up the clump and divide it with a sharp spade or knife. Each section should have an eye bud, which forms in the summer and sprouts the next year, along with healthy roots.

Plant each new section at the same depth as the original plant, whether that is in the soil or in a container. If you do temporarily pop divisions into pots, fill the container with a good potting soil (like this Miracle-Gro potting mix on Amazon) rather than old garden soil.

Shasta Daisy

Shasta daisies are classic cottage garden plants. The archetypal shasta daisies have white petals surrounding a bright yellow center. However, you can also get varieties of this cheery perennial with cream or yellow flowers and double blooms that can flower from early summer to early fall.

Clumps can become overcrowded after several years and suffer from all the competition for light, water, and nutrients. A mature clump will start to wane and have a sparse center. If you grow shasta daisies and notice this happening to your plant, it is time to divide it. It is better to stay ahead of the problem, so plan to divide shasta daisies every 2-3 years.

Before dividing the perennial in fall, cut the shasta daisies back to about six inches above ground to make the process easier. After lifting the clump, small pieces can be pulled apart by hand, though a knife or spade may be required to slice through thicker sections. If the center of the clump is woody, discard it and replant only vigorous sections.

Yarrow

Yarrow is a tough, versatile perennial. It is low-maintenance, drought-tolerant, and pollinator-friendly – ticking all the right boxes for flower beds, wildflower meadows, prairie planting, and wildlife gardens.

Along with being strong, yarrow is also beautiful. It has flat-topped clusters of flowers that come in a wide variety of vibrant shades and soft, feathery, fragrant foliage.

Like others on this list, yarrow clumps can become congested over the years, which affects flowering. It is advisable to divide the plants every 3-5 years.

When lifting a clump of yarrow, you’ll see it's a tightly packed group of small plantlets. These can usually be pulled apart by hand. These small plantlets are best potted up in containers to grow on before being planted out next spring.

Alternatively, clumps can be split into two or three larger sections and replanted straight away at the same depth. Mulch around the new clumps to retain moisture and provide some protection from the winter conditions.

Tickseed

Tickseed is certainly a more attractive plant than the name suggests. Also known as coreopsis, it is a bright native wildflower with colorful daisy-like summer blooms. The plants love the sun, flower for a long period, and attract wildlife during the season.

When growing coreopsis, you should regularly divide established clumps in fall or spring to keep them vigorous. Tickseed can be a short-lived perennial if just left to decline naturally. However, if you lift and divide clumps every 2-3 years, this continually rejuvenates the plant and keeps it going.

When you lift the plant, discard the weaker, older central sections and replant the younger, vigorous outer pieces. This way you can keep on enjoying the gorgeous mounds of blooms year after year.

Make sure to plant any divided tickseed into a sunny spot with well-draining soil, as the perennial loathes sitting in heavy soils. To improve drainage, mix in organic matter, such as compost (get a bag of compost and manure mix at Amazon) or leaf mold, or add horticultural grit to the planting site.

What to Shop

To boost your spring garden displays, dedicate some time in October to planting some spring bulbs.

There is a wide range of bulbs to plant in October that can provide color from late winter to summer, including winter aconite, daffodils, tulips, and alliums. You want to get your bulbs planted ahead of the frost so they have time to establish roots and be ready to burst into life next year.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?