5 ways to give perennials the support they need

Many perennials need support to help them stay healthy and look their best. Here are some different ways to support the perennials in your garden.

Use bamboo stakes, galvanized wire hoops or mesh or twiggy brushwood for top-heavy plants. Here's how to keep them supported:

1. Choose your material. Lightweight individual plants can be supported by brushwood, but heavier plants are best staked with canes or wire mesh.
2. Put supports in place before growth has become too advanced and difficult to handle.
3. The supports should reach to just below the flower spikes. Learn in advance how tall the plant will get.
4. Plants supported by brushwood, hoops or wire mesh don't need tying in. Tall stems, however, should be attached to their cane supports with strong raffia, garden twine or commercially available ties.

1. Use bamboo cane stakes, slender wood or metal stakes. These can support single stems or groups of plants that are more than 60 centimetres (25 inches).
2. For a single-stemmed plant, firmly insert one bamboo cane in the ground close to the plant. Attach the stem with raffia, twine, or plastic-covered wire.
3. As the stem grows, add more ties at approximately 30-centimetre (12-inch) intervals or as needed.

1. For a group of plants or a large clump, firmly insert three stakes in the ground close to the plant, being sure to space them an equal distance apart. These will be hidden when the plant fills out.
2. Knot the twine to one cane, 15 to 25 centimetres (6 to 10 inches) above ground.
3. Loop the twine around the other two canes and secure.
4. Tie again as plant grows.

A plant that grows exceptionally tall can be supported with wire-mesh cylinders. Once the support is in position, no tying in is necessary. Here's how:

1. Use 10-centimetre-square (four-inch-square) galvanized mesh.
2. Make a cylinder that's wide enough to just enclose the whole group of plants. If the cylinder is smaller than the diameter of the mature plants, it will not show.
3. Insert three tall bamboo canes upright in the ground inside the cylinder.
4. Tie each cane to the wire mesh. Start just above ground level, then halfway up, then again at the top.
5. For taller plants, it may be necessary to fit a second cylinder on top of the first. Overlap the two cylinders. Tie them together with twine.

To support plants that tend to become floppy, follow these instructions. Be sure to use strong, twiggy brushwood similar to that used for peas.

1. Save little twiggy branches, sometimes called pea-sticks, when pruning for this purpose. Almost any tree or shrub provides good material.
2. Carefully sharpen the lower ends, and make sure that the soil is soft. Because it's branched, too much pressure will break the brushwood.
3. If the soil is compacted, make a hole first.
4. Push in each piece of brushwood deeply enough so that it will hold firmly under the weight of the growing plant. Two or three pieces for each group of plants are usually sufficient.
5. If the plants are known to sprawl badly after heavy rains, or to form especially large spreading clumps, use more brushwood.
6. Break the tops of the brushwood inward and interlace them to form a loose roof framework. This will help support the flowering stems as they grow.

Perennials need support for many reasons, and there's plenty of ways to help them grow. No matter how you do it, the results can help your garden look its best.