No mistaking spring with the beautiful weather we’ve been having lately. My perennials are daily stretching closer to that warm spring sun.

I can already see my daisies need dividing – they’re growing in a ring around an empty center. This means the middle is dying out but it’s simple to correct. If you have “ring around the daisies” just dig the plant up and cut the healthy parts off of the middle. You really can’t be too rough on these easy care perennials. Just replant the new plants you’ve created and you’re set for another three years or so. And, of course, the benefit is more daisies.

Daisies aren’t the only plants that can be divided right now. Though there are exceptions, the general rule is any plant that blooms in summer or fall can be divided in the spring.

The following perennials should never be divided because either their taproot grows too deeply or they simply do not like being disturbed: baby’s breath, balloon flower, baptisia, bergenia, butterfly weed, columbine, delphinium, gasplant, and oriental poppy.

If your life is anything like mine, and if you’ve ordered bare-root perennials, they’re likely to arrive at the worst possible time – you haven’t yet prepared the bed, or it’s too cold and rainy, or you’ve just got a tremendously busy week. If so, make sure to take the time to examine them for dead or damaged parts. Then, if you can get to them within a few days, water lightly and keep them in their packaging in a cool spot that will not dip below freezing.

Bare-root trees and shrubs should be treated in much the same way but you’ll need to soak them overnight in water before repackaging. If they are not planted within a few days you should heel them in until you are able to introduce them to their permanent location. Heeling in means to plant them temporarily at a 45-degree angle in a trench that is sheltered from the wind.

As you’re planning your vegetable garden for this year, consider planting more than you and your family need. This way, you’ll have enough to donate some of your harvest to Plant a Row for the Hungry, the Garden Writers Association’s program to encourage people everywhere to supply local food banks, soup kitchens, and other service organizations with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Last year, the people of Cumberland County alone donated 23,124 pounds to this worthy cause. To learn more about Plant a Row, be sure to visit the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension website at www.umaine.edu/umcecumberland/par/ as well as the Garden Writers Association website at www.gardenwriters.org.

For my plant of the week, I have chosen the Centaurea montana, commonly known as the perennial cornflower or mountain bluet. These easy care perennials are some of the first to bloom in my garden each spring. Almost electric blue in color, the delicate flowers are good for cutting. Centaurea is disease and pest resistant and blooms for many months if sheared back to the ground after the first flush. Plant in average garden soil in full sun to part shade.

Until next week, may the plants rise up to meet you and the black flies be ever off your back.