Can I have different dates for similar purchases in a "split" format?

No, you'll really want to do an entry per date or it will be a royal pain to Reconcile at the end of the month.

The purpose of a Split transaction is if you buy a number of items at one time and they may need to go to different Expense Acct.  So it is possible you may want to do a Split transaction for your Lowe's purchases.

An example might be if I went into Lowe's and bought light bulbs for $30 and also bought $20 worth of oil for the company truck.  In QBs the Split entry would be:

  Lowe's                                     $50

      Office Expense     $30

      Truck Expense      $20