After all the rain, my coreopsis were leaning but not lying on the sidewalk. So I staked them up with all I had. Bamboo stakes wouldn't have held so I used fence posts. They are full of buds and have multiplied. They need to be divided, thought I'd do that next spring or fall if ok, and don't want to lose this first crop of blooms. So I tied them w/landscape tape and their buds are all facing backwards. Maybe I ought to move the tape down a bit and the buds will right themselves? I tied up my clematis and the leaves have completely hidden the tape, but I doubt the coreopsis will do that. After they bloom, I'm cutting them back. How far down can I cut back to get more blooms this year and maybe they won't lean so much and I can take off that stuff?

My perennial gypsophilia finally has set buds after waiting 3 years now, but only have two sparse plants of it left. It was in danger of bending and breaking or falling to the sidewalk, so I tied that to a bamboo tripod. Should I pinch it back after it blooms, don't want to lose the buds now as I want to see what they are like? These photos it's a little hard to see what I am talking about.

Then this thing is growing in front of my Canterbury Bells, and it doesn't look like those. Is it a weed that I should pull or does anybody know what it might be? If a weed, it's taking up valuable space while I wait.

Advice appreciated.

Second, go to some public and private gardens. Look at how the larger plants and weak stemmed are staked. Peak around closely and look for ways to stake without string, but just propping the plant with brush or crossed or slanted stakes.

Third, read Tracey DiSaubo's (I bet I misspelled her name) and the 'well tended perennial garden) She has many, many tips on judicious pruning that can eliminate or modify the need to stake plants.

Do a search on "pea stakes" which is are brushy thin branches often culled during your spring clean up ( or your neighbors spring clean up) These hold up a bushy but weak stemmed plant almost invisibly.

Second, there's a technique that simply crosses stakes, and makes "x" and you rest the plant in the x

Also, there's an important technique for staking single stems, so they are loose and not like soldiers in girdles.

The goal of staking is optimize the appearance of the plant, which being a creature of nature despises straight lines and corseted shapes. Another goal is plant health- increasing air circulation and lessening the opportunity disease from foliage lying on damp ground and uneven exposure to the sun .

Finally, you will not be using bright green landscaping tape. If you need twine at all, get real stuff. It is usually dyed green. Or try the natural colored stuff. It is supposed to be unobtrusive. I loved the look of raffia when I was able to get some for just one year. HOwever, as you learn more about ways to shape plants by pinching back and staking, you'll be surprised at how little you need garden twine.

You can also look up Walter Nicke who has a bunch of staking options. Prob. Gardener's Supply too. Personally, I wouldn't spend a bunch on expensive stakes and hoops until you've experimented with thin bamboo and brush.

Good luck!

Marie

I have a bunch of hoop stakes but didn't want to use them on this. I don't have anything natural that is strong enough to hold anything but small plants that don't need to be staked. I also have a green heavy nylon twine, but I didn't want it to cut into the stems and bruise them. I've got regular old twine. If I hadn't been using the rebar I have, I would use that because it wouldn't show as much.

Over on the antique rose forum, we use a lot of rebar. The roses soon hide it, and I asked my son to pick me up two 5' sections so I can tie a huge rose back (use my dk nylon loosely for that) so it doesn't hang over the sidewalk.

I love bamboo, and you can buy long sections here, but it's expensive if you want a lot. I wanted to use raffia and make things for the garden with it.

What I really want to do is make some small fence or trellis out of some of my white birch branches I've been saving, but I don't have a good plan in my head.

That twig furniture, maybe somebody on Freecycle would give me some branches for more aesthetic staking that I can tie with raffia. I have some of my own books about that but nothing about stakes in particular.

I'll check around the web. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'm still cutting it back after it blooms and think it will still lean. I'll look for some of the things you mentioned.

It looks awful, I know that, but landscape tape is gentle. I could have tied it in smaller sections, but wanted it done and over with. I'm more concerned about saving the blooms than how it looks I'll split the part near the sidewalk off, and get more plants out of it and put that somewhere else or give it away. It just spread too much closer to the sidewalk and it's supposed to be at the back of the border.

The gypsophilia probably won't come back next year. At this point, I'm more concerned with how to pinch out those plants right so maybe I won't have to stake them. I do know when and how to pinch back my phlox. Heck I could have used a couple tomato cages further back, then try to less obtrusively tie the ones in front to that, a few in a bunch. Never thought of it.

I did look some of it up on the web, and there was an idea to cage with bamboo stakes (the cheaper ones) then wrap twine around them. That would look a little better. Also found some other good information. This winter I'll be a little more open to more reading, don't have to plow through a whole book, just a few specific chapters.

Their little bud heads are almost all completely turned around today. I only set that up to be temporary until I can get what I need to make things more aesthetic, but knowing me, it might stay that way the rest of the summer, can't help it.

Actually I appreciated your willingness to write all that out, and I do have experience and I don't. Obviously you know what you are talking about and were willing to share. There are plenty of things I don't know.

I sit and think of the stupidest things. How can I put my knowledge of so many things I've learned and apply it to gardening? I was making a trellis and got stuck and burned out. It's sitting on sawhorses in the basement.

I've not seen one for years and years, been trying to attract them and even put up a feeder, guess I'll clean that out and freshen up the seed.

It was just thrilling, wished I'd had my camera ready but didn't want to run for it, change to tele lens, and just enjoyed watching it until it flew up into the tree.

I never expected it to increase like that. Well, now I know.

I will move the tape down and see if they will hold; then if it does, I can pull the stakes, maybe tie it tighter, hope that's what you meant, just tie the clump so the bases of the plants will support themselves with help from tape only. I could work up something prettier, but I have so much else I need to work on worse. I'm going to be shuffling plants around in front soon anyway, maybe get rid of a couple that aren't doing well and don't particularly like.

Thank you for the suggestion. I sure hope that finch hangs around and draws some more.

One is all I've got left since groundhogs climbed fence to eat them. This one came back but was lying flat on the ground. Had to truss it up with that stretchy green garden stuff.

The deer jumped same fence other night and ate tops off echinacea and native aster (divaricatus).

When it rains hard things are lying on the ground or splayed...like right now after weeks of rain.

I use twigs and branches from trees that fall or I break off White Pine because they're dead already. If a "Y" twig or branch will do that's what I use. If it's a more generalized "I've fallen and I can't get up" I have to use whatever I can find and the green plastic stuff to hold it up.

We have an awful slug situation so anything on the ground is going to get destroyed. I go through 40 pound bags of diomataceous earth like it was candy.

No matter how much I clear out mulch or debris they're around my father's property and they aren't going anywhere.

I understand the "start & stop" problem...there aren't a lot of people who understand or even speak about it so know you're not alone with it. :)

Marie, you describe my ideal gardening experience. Some people here on the forums discouraged me from getting the book "The Well Tended Perennial Garden" and I don't know why. They said I should just "do it and learn" but I'd rather have some good advice on a myriad of little things like when/if to pinch, when/how to transplant and so many other topics. Seems elemental to more experienced gardeners, I guess, but would help me a lot...when I feel willing to part with the $35. it costs...LOL.

Talk about starting and stopping, how about just trying to remember things! I left a bag of diomataceous earth (aka Floor Dry) outside by the Butterfly Garden overnight after washing plastic tarps and potting up some things in containers while it was drizzling. Had to spread it all over to chase away huge slugs who even slithered their way up strappy Liatris foliage. After pouring rain all night it's like a brick of cement. Weighs a lot more than its original 40 pounds!

Enjoy your blooms, ladies.