You can divide a hosta practically anytime, the best being spring (after the eyes are up) and fall. My personal preference would be in spring only because I hate to mess up the looks of a full beautiful hosta. Once it starts looking ratty in the fall, though, I wouldn't hesitate to divide because it looks bad anyway. Others can weigh in on when it is too late in the year.

If this is only its 2nd summer, it shouldn't be difficult at all to divide.

Char

When YOU think it looks too large, for your space or to your eye or when you need a portion
to give away to a friend, or potential friendship in a neighbor or to trade with!!!

Or, if the center starts dying out, as in the infamous 'fairy ring'!

I have come to realize that dividing hosta, too soon, robs us of the opportunity to see what they CAN BE
if left to mature!! I think seeing a HUGE mound of any hosta, is 'candy to my eye'! JMHO

It looks like, from re-reading your post, that you just want to divide it to place in other areas of your garden.
If that IS the case, then divide and wait and see them ALL mature, at the same rate, in your VARIOUS places.
All we've got is 'time', right?? :O)

Pm2, you can go so far as to split it into separate eyes, so you have multiple divisions of one eye each. That's what the folks who sell divisions of mature hostas (like on Ebay) do. If you have only a single eye to plant in each spot, they will take longer to form big beautiful mounds then they would if you had 2-3 eyes planted per location.

Thank you all, just the input I needed. I will wait for the spring because Guacamole blooms late and the fragrance is great and I don't really need to do it this fall. I will divide it into 2 or 3 sections with 3 eyes each if it has that many, because I do agree, I would like to see what it looks like mature and dividing it this soon after purchase will allow me to wait for all of them to mature at the same time.

Thanks a bunch.. :-)

Yeah, I like the wiggle method best, too! Less 'murderous' feeling!

Ah...the technique part of the question...thanks. I hadn't thought of washing the dirt off. I will try it your way, but do I have to be particular about what level I plant it again? I deliberately avoid bare rooted plants because I always feel very uncertain about getting it planted at the proper depth.

I deliberately avoid bare rooted plants because I always feel very uncertain about getting it planted at the proper depth." Prairie

Plant high and mulch high and you can't go wrong.

Trying to divide without getting the dirt off will lead to more broken divisions than you will lose improperly planting.

Even broken divisions can sometimes work out.

I do get broken division sometimes when dividing with a knife. I recently took 4 teeny weeny barely rooted fans and put them each in a 4" pot and stuck them in a holding area. Just checked on them this weekend and they are all holding on! In the spring I will probably give them to friends or find new homes.

Only hosta are that invincible. Oh, that was its name...LOL

Any time is a good time to divide hostas: at your pleasure. And any size is the right size to divide - whether it be a two-eye toddler or a 50-eye senior - your choice.

I agree that washing as much of the soil off and then pulling the plant gently apart works beautifully - with some of them. Others need a little encouragement with a knife across the crown, but try to avoid the roots. Still others are stoloniferous, so their main feeder root needs to be cut from the parent plant.

As long as you have a few roots attached to the above-ground part of the plant, and provide even moisture after the surgery, generally they should do very well. I routinely rescue chipmunk-dug hosta root fragments from our local arboretum (which has a hosta garden to DIE for), and none have so far expired. Mind you, I make sure they get no more than the teeniest amount of direct morning or evening sun - direct midday sun would cook them in a blink, even up here in Ottawa. Steady bright shade is the key to success.

Since most hostas generally do well in saturated soils, it's a good idea to provide lots of moisture in the planting hole when you're ready to plant (dig the hole, fill it with water, push some dirt in it, plonk the plant in, water some more, fill with dirt to the top, water again).

Potting divided plants makes care easier, over winter in the pots and plant late spring.

If you only get a few roots with the division cut off most or all of the leaves.