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Staking Floppy Plants

I like to stake plants before they fall over. When I see a hollyhock start to lean, I give it some support. I always surround tall clumps of delphinium with stakes and string or other material when the flower clusters start to form. Normally my tall meadow rues (Thalictrum 'Lavender Mist') don't flop, but one did recently - it was an 8-footer, and we'd had quite a storm; I tied it up, now it is fine.

There are two reasons flowers flop: some have large flower heads that hold so much water when wet that their stems can't support the weight. Delphinium and pink mallow fall into that category. If the ground is too soft and wet, some tip over like trees when the wind blows. That's the problem for big zinnias, cosmos and other large annuals because generally their root systems are not as developed as those of perennial flowers.

There are many ways to support plants. You can deal with plants individually, pulling them back towards the vertical from behind. To do this, insert a rod or a length of bamboo behind the plant, close to the base. Attach your string to the bamboo, encircle the stem, pulling it close to the bamboo, and tie a secure knot. For large plants you may want to angle the bamboo away from the plant a bit. By doing that, the bamboo will not slouch towards the plant, but stand up vertically- the pull of the plant will straighten up the stake. It takes a little practice to get it right.

For plants with many stems such as a clump of pink mallow (a notorious flopper), I generally support them from the front using string and three or more stakes, making a little fence of string and stakes. I generally place one stake on each side of the clump and one centered in the front. I attach the string to a stake on one side ( I use a clove hitch), loop the string around the middle stake, and tie it to the stake at the far-side stake. I try to choose a height that is above mid-height of the stems, maybe two thirds the way up them. If the plant were a person, it would be supported at armpit height - above the center of gravity.

Another way to keep plants up is making informal fences using bamboo or metal stakes. Recently I supported a big clump of a big clump of false indigo (Baptisia australis) by using several stakes that I pushed into the soil, each on a 45 degree angle. Some I pushed in from the right side, others I inserted from the left. They overlapped, criss-crossing in a herringbone pattern. I did this close to the plant, and they pretty much disappeared into the foliage. U-shaped bamboo stakes are also very nice for supporting big, floppy plants, but I rarely see them for sale.

When buying bamboo stakes, always choose the stoutest ones possible. Some are very flimsy, and bend easily under load. I find 6-footers great for most things because they are generally very sturdy. I shorten the stakes after tying up the plant so that I don't have a stake towering over a flower. I shorten thick ones with loppers or a pruning saw; smaller ones I cut with pruners. There are also hollow metal stakes available for staking, sturdy ones with a green coating, but they don't cut well and cost more.

My tomatoes were enclosed in cages long ago, but some stems escaped, so I recently tied flopping stems to the outside of the cages, or onto one-inch diameter hardwood stakes that I pounded in next to the cages. You can get those stakes in various lengths at the lumber yard - ask for 4 or 5 foot grade stakes. When staking tomatoes it's important to use a material that will not cut into the stems when the fruit gets heavy. Strips of sheets or old pantyhose work well. I also like a stretchy green plastic material I buy on a roll - it's half an inch wide and costs under $3 a roll. For the knot adverse, there are now rolls of Velcro for ting up plants at many garden centers.

Staking isn't really an art, but it takes some practice if you don't want the string and stakes to be ugly and obvious. But there is little worse than seeing your flowers devastated by a rainstorm - so I say, stake early and stake often!

Henry Homeyer is a gardening coach and the author of 3 gardening books. His web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com. You may reach him at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or at gardening.guy@valley.net.