Staking flowers is viewed as a nuisance, but sometimes you need to keep tall growing annuals and perennials from falling over as they grow. You can handle leaning stems by providing stronger plants for the flowers to rest upon. Good choices include grasses, shrubs, and bushy perennials. Such a scheme requires planning ahead of time and is not always possible. So learning ways to stake and support tall flowers is the way to go.
Some flowering annuals and perennials are not as sturdy as others. If these flowers are overfertilized, their stems grow lush and weak. These flowers will need support. When you stake a growing flower after it starts to flop, you are undertaking what is known as remedial staking. Simply insert a support such as a bamboo stake, single stake, or sturdy branch into the ground beside the flowers. The top of the stake should be somewhere between the midpoint of plant’s current height and its peak growing point. Use soft jute or green hemp twine to gather the flowers and tie them loosely to the stake. Natural twine is better than green covered wire ties because twine eventually disintegrates.
The other kind of staking is called preventive staking. Insert stakes in early spring before plants need them. Drive the stakes deep into the soil to anchor them. You can use cut twigs from fast-growing plants such as willows or red twig dogwood, or you can use bamboo stakes. You can fashion a grid or a corral around emerging stems, using twine to hold the stakes together. Another type of support consists of creating a network of well-branched twigs or brush around the young plants. Insert them deeply in the ground and the plants will grow through this tangle and use it for support. The growth will eventually hide it from view.
Of course, you can use a fence as a support or insert metal plant rings or metal supports.
Bushy clematis is similar to the familiar, vining clematis that climbs up lamp posts. But bushy clematis does not climb. It has a rambling habit and will sprawl if no support is added. The flowers of the deer-resistant bushy clematis appear on new strong shoots each spring. The stems die back to the ground after frost. Stake or contain the young stems. Here is a rustic structure, made from small branches and tied with jute twine that surrounds bushy clematis in Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring, New York. The variety, Clematis recta Purpurea, has purple foliage and masses of small, starry white flowers. Grows 3 to 4 feet high. Hardy in zones 4–8.
Luffa vines (Luffa aegyptiaca) growing on the fence at the Vegetable Garden in Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. Luffa is a type of annual tropical or subtropical gourd that can be dried and used as a body scrubber. The climbing vines bear ornamental yellow flowers. They grow fast and work well when trained along a fence, as shown. Luffa can be grown from small plants in zone 6 gardens or from seed in zone 7 and higher. Most plants in the squash family are natural climbers.
A flower native to swampy, moist areas is the cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). It is named for the pure red color of its flowers, which is similar to the color of the vestments worn by Roman Catholic cardinals. Spires of late-summer flowers open from the bottom to top. Good for rain gardens, along streams, and edges of ponds in full sun or part shade. Hardy in zones 3–9.
Our native great blue cardinal flower (Lobelia siphilitica) is the blue counterpart of the red cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis). It is a desirable plant for woodland gardens with its blue blooms in late summer. It likes moist conditions and damp clay soil. It is shown here with the native perennial hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa), with its feathery, plume-like flower spikes. Zones 4–8.
Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata var. resinosa) is a native perennial that does best in moist conditions. Its tall lavender spikes are on full display in sunny areas in midsummer to fall. In full bloom, Liatris spicata produces nectar and pollen for bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, and moths. Researchers suspect blazing star produces chemical cues that draw monarch butterflies to their floral spires. Blazing star grows 24 to 48 inches tall and can fit in any native garden. It combines well with the flowers of Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis). Deer resistant! Zones 3–9.
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is the food source for monarch and gray hairstreak butterfly caterpillars. This native perennial is both beautiful and useful! It was named the 2017 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association. Its flat-topped clusters of bright orange flowers, and the droves of pollinators it draws, have made this a popular flower in perennial gardens. It is drought tolerant and likes the sun and well-drained sandy soils. Requires little care once established. Zones 3–9.