strange problem after dividing spring vetchling plant

Waukegan, IL(Zone 5a)

I have a strange problem with a Spring Vetchling (Lathyrus Vernus) plant I have had for many years. A few years ago I dug out one half of the plant and transplanted it to another area of my garden with the same exposure. It appeared to do very well but after a few weeks some of the leaves began to turn yellow. Eventually every leaf on the plant had turned bright yellow but the plant seemed okay otherwise. The following spring it came up looking fine with nice green leaves but after a couple of weeks the leaves again began to turn yellow and the plant only produced a few blossoms. The original plant was fine and I eventually discarded the yellow plant.

A few years passed and the “mother” plant was outgrowing its location so I decided to try dividing it again. This time I dug up the entire plant in late summer and divided it in two pieces which I planted in roughly similar areas to its original location. It looked fine but this spring the exact same thing happened as before. One division turned yellow and produced only 2 or 3 blooming stems. The other remained green and bloomed profusely.

None of the usual explanations seem to explain this. It has thrived in a sunny spot and in a lightly shaded spot and it has also turned yellow in similar spots. I doubt it’s about nutrients because one of the yellowing plants was only about 4 feet away from the one that stayed green. All seemed perfectly fine after transplanting with no wilting or loss of leaves. I am stumped. Has anyone had a similar experience?

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