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When mid July arrived I feared that hot weather could not be far behind. My solution was to get in the car, promise anyone that cared that I would return sometime and headed west looking for higher, cooler ground.

Above tree line I found snow and a plethora of tiny, but beautiful, flowers. Amazingly, despite heavy snowfall, which flees ahead of winds up to 150 miles per hour, they survive frigid temperatures with little protection.

What I also quickly realized was that I was in the homeland of one of my favorite perennials. We saw a wide variety of penstemons or beards tongue. Where they grow naturally they come in a variety of sizes and colors, including a deep purple that was a showstopper.

Therein lays the problem. We are dealing with a plant that thrives natively in a much drier and often cooler climate than we have. The good news is that it is such a wonderful plant that it has attracted the attention of those that breed and select garden-worthy plants.

With one exception, the offerings until recently were beautiful, but short-lived. The exception is Penstemon Huskers Red, a plant selected as Perennial Plant of the Year several years ago.

Found in a garden in Nebraska it is the odd ball among penstemons. It has mahogany foliage with pinkish white flowers followed by ornamental black seed heads. The amazing thing is that, unlike its kin, it thrives here and even favors soil on the wetter side of average.

More recent, extensive work with penstemons, mostly in the mid-west, has yielded a growing selection of varieties. It joins echinacea and baptista as dry land plants being bred or selected for our eastern, warmer, more humid gardens.

There are other recent inductions that warrant trials in our gardens. In all cases, except with Huskers Red, selecting a drier site in full sun will increase your chance of success.

Another surprise on our trip was the huge number of hummingbirds starting their migration south in late July and early August. One of our stays was at the mountain campus of Colorado State University. Outside their conference center were three hummingbird feeders.

To my amazement, there were always dozens if not hundreds of hummingbirds near these feeders. They have a better selection of hummingbirds than we have. One was quite small and often bullied others away from the feeders.

Our instructor said that the little one often bypasses the feeders and uses the penstemon and monarda (bee balm) flowers as a source of nectar during migration.

We almost timed it right, as cooler temperatures arrived just ahead of our return. Our only problem may be that we started home a day too early since the car sensor read 107 degrees about halfway across Kansas.

As I drink my morning coffee I look out my kitchen window at the perennial border my grandmother so lovingly planted over 30-odd years. The iris and peonies are a riot of color in the spring, the daylilies timed well to give blooms for most of July and August, the black-eyed Susans threatening to take over everything else and asters that bloom well into the fall.

This past season I've noticed the irises didn't bloom as nicely as last year, and the black-eyed Susans are making my husband's mowing job a bit treacherous. It's time to divide.

Dividing perennials seems to be one of the biggest topics of confusion out there in the gardening world. When? How? Which ones? I'll do my best to not create any more confusion.

When? General rule of thumb is to divide spring-flowering perennials in the fall, and fall and late summer bloomers in the spring. Think about the weather- you want at least 4-6 weeks before frost for the roots of newly-divided plant to get established. On the spring side, ideally divide perennials before it gets too hot and you'd rather not drag your hose around.

Pick a day that is cloudy and cool and the soil is moist. Prepare your new spot or identify a friend to give the extras to. Trim foliage back to 1 ft to reduce water loss and stress on the roots.

Lift the plant to be divided with a large gardening fork or shovel, taking care to get as much root as possible. Err on the conservative side. It's much easier to shake off dirt than it is to replace roots.

Now let me pause and talk about root types. Some of the easiest perennials to divide are iris and other plants with horizontally growing stems called rhizomes. Just lift them, discard large older, withered, or diseased rhizomes, and plant the smaller, plump, healthy side pieces. Cut the fans back to 6-12" and lay on the new spot. For best results don't bury the rhizome.

Looking at Nanny's iris, I can see the larger center rhizome have some borer holes in them. Discard these.

Spreading root systems are also easy to divide. They form a mat with many vertical stems and may become overgrown if not divided regularly. Examples include black-eyed Susans, obedient plant and mints. All three of which are going crazy in my border. The outside edges of the plant are best used for divisions as the center can become woody. Chop some off with a sharp shovel or cut apart with shears. A well-established patch will give many, many new plants.

Daylilies, grasses and hostas are examples of clumpers. These plants need to be lifted intact and teased apart or cut apart at the crown with a sharp knife. Some woodier crowns, like liatris, astilbes, or some grasses, may require a hand-saw and some elbow grease. Be sure to include several "eyes" or growing points, per clump to ensure good bloom the next year.

Several perennials don't tolerate division very well. Plants with taproots (baptisia, delphiniums) or slow growers (peonies) I wouldn't try to divide unless you must have more and can't find them at a garden center. Also woody perennials like lavender and artemisia don't divide well. Since I can barely keep my lavender alive, I've never needed to divide it.

How often to divide is another commonly asked question. Is the plant is doing well and blooming nicely? If you answered "yes" leave it alone. If the answer is "no", or you simply want more, get out your shovel. Some people like a guideline of however many years, but it depends entirely on how happy the plants are in their location and the growing season.

Having perennials to divide is a quick and inexpensive way to increase your garden, especially if you have a friend or neighbor to trade with. Better yet, let them help you. Anyone want some black-eyed Susans?

As we approach fall's cooler temperatures and increased rainfall, it's time to start thinking of adding some shrubs to your landscape. With soil temperatures still warm and air temps slowly cooling, autumn is the ideal time to plant shrubs.

One group I'm especially excited about are witch hazels. All witch hazels have spidery 4-petaled blossoms and good fall color. Our native witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, has a lovely yellow flower and spicy fragrance, but blooms in the fall- when the leaves are also yellow, hiding the blooms.

Hamaelis x intermedia cultivars are crosses between the Chinese and Japanese witch hazels and come in a variety of flower colors, yellow, orange and reddish-brown. They reach 6-12 feet tall depending on cultivar with either a vase shaped or rounded form. Limb them up to make a small tree or leave them alone for a shrubby look.

The added benefit of the hybrid witch hazels is they bloom in winter, late January-March around here, when nothing else is blooming, and the foliage has been shed. During the day the petals unfurl, then at night or on especially brutal days they curl up again extending the bloom period several weeks.

Cut some branches to bring in to force and enjoy the spicy scent and exotic appearance.

It's also time to start thinking of dividing perennials. You've got plenty of time- you want at least 6 weeks before the ground freezes. Some years, it takes us to December for the ground to freeze.

However, last few days have been especially moist at my house; we received just over 7 inches of rain in a week. This prompted my neighbor to ask if she could divide her irises yet. "Of course", I told her.

With adequate moisture, either from the heavens or your garden hose, August is the time to start dividing, moving around and sharing your extra perennials with friends . Divide spring and early summer bloomers now, leave fall-bloomers to divide in the spring.

The actual mechanics of dividing varies depending on the type of plant and root system. Before I run too long, we'll address the specifics of dividing perennials next week.

This is the time of year my neck cranes a bit as I drive past flowerbeds to catch a 45mph glimpse of daylilies. I like all of them, from the colonized old-fashioned ones along the roadsides, to the shorter extended bloomers, and I love the huge multi-colored tetraploides.

My flowerbeds boast several interesting ones my father planted for my grandmother over the years; from beautiful deep red ones to spider-petaled tall yellows. My favorite is a deep purple which is fragrant.

There are hundreds of daylilies on the market, mainly because they are one of the easiest flowers to breed. Male and female parts are quite prominent and readily cross-pollinate. Daylilies are a favorite target for back-yard breeders.

Probably the most popular daylily, is the golden yellow 'Stella de Oro', a short extended-bloomer bred by Walter Jablonski in the 1970s. Dr. Darrell Apps took these a bit further with the lemon yellow 'Happy Returns'. More recently he has a line dubbed Happy Ever Appsters(TM) which boast a bloom period of 55-100 days. They come in a variety of colors from red, to purple, pink and of course, yellows.

Despite the breeding done to extend flowering, I'm still awfully partial to the taller tetraploides that have thicker foliage, much larger flowers, and are often fragrant.

Today two of my favorites are 'Chicago Apache' and 'Sue Rothbauer'. Ask me tomorrow and I'll tell something different.

Care is relatively simple. Remove the dead foliage in the spring, and generally tidy them up about this time of year. A little goes a long way towards preventing most problems.

Space them 2-3 feet apart depending on whether you want distinct clumps. Divide ever 5-6 years or when flowering starts to be reduced.

Grow dayliles in full sun to part shade. More shade will slightly reduce flowering and may stretch the height a bit.

Pests are spider mites and thrips. Mites cause bronzing of the foliage or webbing on the undersides of the leaves. Thrips suck the juices from the buds causing the flowers to curl a bit. Neither are fatal problems.

Foliage also may suffer from 'Leaf Streak' which causes a spotting or, you guessed it, yellow streaking. A more serious problem is rust. Not seen in the US until the last few years, rust is a fungus that forms reddish pustules on the leaves. The good news is it isn't hardy above zone 7. University of Illinois Extension has a good article on the subject. http://hyg.aces.uiuc.edu/secure/subscribers/200410b.html

Whether you enjoy them for three weeks or try some extended bloomers, daylilies will always have a home in my garden.

My husband, Jon, and I recently got back from a 10-day visit to his family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You may remember Cedar Rapids from the massive flooding that took place there in June.

During the course of a week, Iowa got over 10 inches of rain, and the Cedar River swelled its banks, rushed the levees, and crested at over 30 feet. The previous record was 20 feet set in 1851. The waters flooded over 1300 city blocks causing 25,000 people to be evacuated.

Driving around the downtown area with my mother-in-law was a surreal experience. The waters reached 6 feet high through most of the businesses and homes causing total loss of anything in the basement and first floors.

They lost the public library, Czech cultural museum, science museum, symphony theater, countless small businesses and homes. Most without flood insurance.

Despite the debris and destruction, people were there cleaning up their homes, hauling away trash, planning to rebuild. My brother-in-law, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, estimates rebuilding to cost in the billions of dollars. Just to clean a downtown Catholic church, let alone rebuild, cost $300,000.

You may wonder what this has to do with gardening. Admittidly, not much. However, beside homes with water lines up to the second floor, ferns were sending up new fronds. Green grass was poking up through the mud and muck. The most breath-taking display of astilbes I've ever seen in my life was in the front yard of a home in Cedar Rapids.

Some plants, like people, are amazingly resilient. Faced with tough odds and abuse can come though anything.

Some, like the junipers and yews I saw, brown, wither up and die. Some of the small rural towns in Iowa are expected to not rebuild. Towns of the size of Kirkwood vanished in a week.

This experience made me think about what was important to me, and what kind of person I want to be. Can I teach my son to be a survivor? Like the Ostrich ferns, to reach up to the sun? Or do I shrivel up at each sign of adversity? I think we all need a reality check from time to time.

Photo Credit Seth Wenig AP