Staking Your Perennial Garden Plants for Spring
Some perennial plants require staking every year, many as a necessity while others only as a matter of preference and others still simply need to be staked. Regardless of the reason it is never anyone’s favorite gardening chore. The process of achieving a healthy, neat and tidy garden is easily obtained when you use staking methods that are appropriate for your garden.
For the most part many perennials are self supporting, (being able to stand alone without the support of stakes) but there are of course exceptions. Staking is a tedious job and should be done in a manner that will keep the garden plants as natural looking as possible. Stake your plants as early as possible when they first begin to appear and the dangers of late frosts have passed. Knowing what to stake your plants with will also prevent many headaches.
The use materials such as branches, bamboo or metal rings are always a good bet, the metal rings work well for ease and there are times when a good old fashioned wooden stake will still work best of all. The use of twine and other tying materials will blend right into your garden and can go into your compost pile or bin if it is biodegradable and another plus is that it makes clean-up easier in the fall.
You also need to know what plants to stake, taller plants such as delphiniums and hollyhocks are a must to stake, strong winds and a hard rain will cause them to flop over and they do not bounce back later on. Plants that have top heavy flowers such as gladiolus and dahlias should be tied all the way to the top of the flower and should be staked at planting time to avoid the risk of piercing any part of the underground portion of the bulb and damaging it.
These will need to be tied as soon as the start to grow and tied continuously until they bloom to prevent them from flopping over when they reach full blossom. Spring staking is always easier and better for you and your garden plants.
Looking at a few bare stakes for a short period of time is a lot simpler than having your plants reach full bloom and have the task of trying to tie plants that are too tall and running the risk of breaking or bending the tops and trying to fit a full grown plant onto a stake. Wrap your plants loosely using a figure eight technique with twine and then tie but not tight against the stake.
Allow your plants to grow up the stakes or in or around the metal stakes when they are young for easy garden maintenance. Follow these few tips for spring garden staking and enjoy a beautiful neat garden all summer long.
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