Eleanor Clarke
GARDEN DESIGN
Plant supports: a beginner’s guide
A good number of garden plants need a little help from metal, plastic or wooden plant supports. You’re not doing anything wrong if they flop – it’s simply because they’re top heavy and prone to flopping, or tall and easily snapped and blown over in strong winds or storms. It doesn’t need to be a problem though: it’s all about giving those plants they help they need to grow as much as possible without keeling over.
Which plants need a little support
There are two main groups of plants that can do with some help: the tall, single-stemmed perennials, then the top-heavy. In the tall single-stem category are delphiniums, sunflowers and often hollyhocks, lilies and foxgloves. The second group is bushier, clump-forming perennials with top-heavy flowers, which include phlox, dahlias, leucanthemums, lupins, rudbeckias, heleniums and Verbena bonariensis. There are the climbers, too, of course, which need support all year round either from a tree, fence or wall, or wires or trellis attached to these garden boundaries.
How to choose the right ones
A classic ‘lobster pot’ dome, usually constructed of metal, makes a gorgeous architectural feature in a flower border even your plants have grown up around it. It’s the perfect design to place over peonies, dahlias or ornamental poppies. You can get similar rustic, cottagey designs made of hazel, which are best stored in the shed over winter if you want them to last more than a few years.
Support rings can be either a simple ring or a grid within a ring (often green plastic-coated steel) that is pushed into the ground over plants such as heleniums, peonies and larger leucanthemums. These tend to be affordable if not beautiful, but the point here is that although they’re not the most glamorous, they’ll soon be entirely hidden by plant growth.
Wrap-around supports (picture a hoop or half hoop on a stick) provide all-round support for tall stems. You’d probably need one either side of the plant if they’re half hoops, positioned to hold the plant loosely enough to keep them looking natural, but tightly enough to provide the support they need. In rusted metal they’re attractive enough to leave standing all year round if you want to, and ideal for hollyhocks and foxgloves, which won’t cover the support with their foliage.
When and how to do it
The most important thing to remember is that you need put your plant supports in well before the plants are tall enough to actually need them. So that generally means March or April. If you wait much longer you’ll be battling through all that new growth and you’re likely to damage the roots and shoots, or even flowers of your plants.
Lobster pots, rings, wrap-around supports and cloche-type supports should be around half the height of the plant’s eventual size. As a general rule of thumb, if you’re tying, for example, a delphinium to a stake, make the stake a third of the eventual height the delphinium so that the staking won’t be noticed, as foliage grows up around it – and use proper garden twine, which will blend naturally with the greenery in your borders
How to make your own
If you have long willow or hazel prunings and a little creativity, you can make most plant supports yourself. Flexible stems can be secured into the ground, then the top half bent over 90 degrees, formed into a circle and tied with soft twine to make a hoop support. Or attach hoops to bamboo canes for a ring support. Give it a try and see where your creativity takes you.
