Springtime gardening on a shoestring budget with Tony Murrell

Now is the time to lift and divide perennial plants to maximise colour in the garden, says landscape gardener Tony Murrell.

Preparation is the key, he tells RNZ's Sunday Morning.

"I like to keep things quite nice and tidy, and I would be specific about a part of the garden, identifying the plant that I'm going to lift and divide, putting a small piece of tarpaulin down or a bit of canvas, lifting carefully with a garden fork, maybe teasing off some of the soil, cleaning off all of the dead parts of the plant, the brown parts of the plant, and then taking off those really lovely vital parts on the outside.

"The central core could probably go back in again, or you could discard that and put in the new parts back into the garden, better spacing."

All it takes is a little bit of effort, he said.

"You've got a whole lot of plants that are effectively free. You're doing it in a tidy way.

"You're replanting with a little bit of organic compost, and it just costs you a little bit of effort and maybe an instant cup of coffee before you start it."

There is a whole array of natives and exotics that can handle being divided and replanted, he said.

"I like the flowers on [the phlomis russeliana or Jerusalem sage]. That's one of those bulletproof type plants that keeps weeds at bay. It really covers well."

"Boltonia (false aster) is such a great plant, and once established, [it] does so particularly well. Lifted, divided, or just left in place."

Asters, shasta daisies, and salvias do really well with the lift and divide, he said.

"Heleniums separate up and divide up well. Daylilies, ornamental grasses and hostas.

"For those lucky listeners that have got hostas in their garden, they lift and divide well."

Echinacea, he said, can be grown from seed, but once established, it divides well.

Other plants to look out for in the garden that can be divided are pentstemon, sanguisorba and astrantia sedums.

For smaller gardens, we often end up with way too many seedlings, Murrel said.

"You've got these teeny tiny seeds in packets. And on your first shake from the packet into the seed raising mix that you've ever so carefully tampered down into a seed raising tray, all of the seeds go into one area, and that's the end of it."

Pulp pots are a better way to go, he said.

"They're made of recycled paper, they're highly effective, super duper cheap. You could probably make your own pulp pots.

"And I'm talking about sowing one or two seeds per pot. And then once you've got three beautiful broccoli sprouted and good to go, take that to your garden or to your container and then plant it out."

To save on trees and shrubs, consider buying them in bare root form, he said.

"They're considerably cheaper, [and] they establish better. You can also create the shapes if you're doing hedging, spacing, maybe not better, but differently.

"I also like the fact that they're super lightweight, really easy to handle. They come in bundles. And they're always good quality."

Can red-hot pokers be divided? Mike from Tawa.

"Absolutely, you can, and because of your soil conditions, you've got a bit of clay in Tawa.

"I would definitely get out there when the ground is nice and soft, which it is right now. Put down a bit of a tarp and lift it with a garden fork carefully.

"You can trim it off as much as you like, almost down to the nub back with a nice sharp knife. An old bread knife's a good way of doing that.

"Cleaning up the plant and then dividing it up with a very sharp knife or with a spade, depending on the size of the clump.

"And then dividing that, spreading that around the garden. What a great way of getting more plants from the hero that's already at your place."

Can I remove, divide and replant clivia?

"Oh, totally, clivia's are amazing for that. And they're seeding down as well. So, they'll be coming into flower in many parts of the country. I really like the Miniata series. Just a spectacular plant."

Can I re-pot Christmas lilies and canna lilies?

"Canna lilies are like weeds in many cases. There's no great science.

"But cannas lift and divide really easily. Yes, you can pot them up if you want to. Put them into a garden space.

"They can be a bit thuggy. They can take over. I like to raise them to the ground so you get all the lovely fresh foliage coming through for the season ahead."

I seeded 20 echinacea in trays. Only six came up, said Darcy, and only three survived transplanting. What am I doing wrong?

"Echinacea are super-duper easy. You may have buried them a little bit too deep, and the soil could have been a little bit on the damp side. Fresh seed is always best."