DIVIDING    Now that we’ve had that frost - one way or another - we can put this year’s garden to rest.  This is the time when many of the spring perennials will multiply if you divide them.  You can divide your two gorgeous 3-year-old daylilies, iris, or other perennials.  In fact, they probably need dividing.  If left in its original spot, the clump has become over-crowded and has depleted the fertility of the soil.   
   I’ve been known to fly like a Jack Russell - dig, move, dig, split, and dig some more until the once weed-filled flower bed comes to rest.  The chosen tall flowers are in back with the short ones in front.  With any luck, most of the weeds are in the compost pile. 
   My favorite dividing tools are a good sturdy shovel and an ax– the shovel to lift the whole plant out of the ground and the ax to divide.  If the ax frightens you, a large knife and hammer will often work.  Don’t be shy.   
   When dividing mature clumps of perennials, select only vigorous side shouts from the outer clump.  Divide the plant into clumps of three to five shoots each.  Now you have six to ten new plants.   Be careful not to over-divide; too small a clump will not give much color the first year after replanting.  Use the new plants to line your driveway or make a new statement. 
   Don’t forget to keep things moist and/or watered during and after the move.  If it’s a cloudy/rainy day, the plant may never even know what happened, especially if water is made available in the days/weeks just after the move.   
   For more information, check out Virginia Tech’s website — www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/envirohort/426-203/426-203.html 
   

TRANSPLANTING  When it comes to trees and shrubs, I’ve been accused of treating them like living room furniture.  If I don’t like it here, it’s quite simple. Put it somewhere else.    
   A few of the easy-to-move trees and shrubs are:  Boxwoods, Maples, Viburnum, Oaks, anything so small you can  move the entire root system. 
     This is the best time to transplant most trees and shrubs.  Winter is the time the roots are locating nutrients and growing in length to be ready for spring.  So getting them in the ground now gives them the advantage of having hair roots long and settled before they are expected to perform the spring rituals. 
  The community of fungi, bacteria, microbes, mites, worms, insects, and plants that work in concert to produce the above ground display are disconnected and separated every time we dig and turn over the soil.  So time is needed to re-establish the line of communications between all the members of the community. 
   This is also a good time to move plants because there is far less likely to be a drought and even if there is, it’s easier to supply the roots than to supply the roots and all the leaves. 
   The leaf canopy will be dormant.  Roots can be growing and making connections in the subsoil world so that—come spring—all the suppliers will know where and how to deliver their water and nutrients.  Fall and winter are networking time in nature.  It’s busier than you might ever believe.
   I can’t begin to tell it all.  So here’s another website that may help: www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/monthlytips/october/noteoctt.html  

MULCHING  As for your garden in winter— I apologize for being redundant and uninspiring, but I really do want to encourage you to mulch your trees and shrubs in winter.  Unless you didn’t rake and there is already a good layer of fall leaves, you really would be doing your plants a great service.
    No matter what material you use, mulching during the winter months will help protect the feeder roots which are the most important.  They are found mostly in the top 6 inches of soil.  Mulch will help prevent the ground heaving in harsh cold weather and the roots from freezing and/or drying out.
    If you use organic material, the mycorrhizae, microbes, and other decomposers will have produced the nutrients that will be needed come spring.

If winter gets you down, try inviting the sights and smells of spring to arrive early by “forcing” a few things.   Quite a few plants can be cut in January and brought to flower  in relatively  short periods of time—Hamamelis, Cornus mas, and forsythia to name a few.