"simy1" wrote in message
om...
"Vox Humana" wrote in message
...
I got several of these plants last year from Bluestone Perennials. They
are
not listed in the catalog this year, so I thought that I would divide
the
ones that I have. Despite our unusually cold winter, they came back
with
vigor so I dug and divided them. I noticed that they had a substantial
tap
root. Did I doom the plants by cutting them in half?

No, specially this early in the season. I likewise broke the taproots
of another rumex (common sorrel) during spring transplanting and after
a few days of looking depressed they were back. I now have some 15sq
ft of the stuff. Water them well and they will be back. Because I
collect (yellow) dock roots as a medicinal herb from my yard, I have
also noticed that they, like dandelion, are able to come back form
small pieces of roots. Once they start flowering, you will have seeds
to start acres of dock (birds do like them though).

Do you mean that birds like to eat the leaves or the seeds?