116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The Iowa Gardener: Have plants that like to flop? Use what you have to make your own stakes
This time of year, plants tend to tilt, flop and sprawl in ways that can be problematic. Staking and supporting is a great way to help them look their best and out of the way, and the good news is that you probably have things around your yard to do it for little or no cost.
Sticks and branches collected from your yard make excellent stakes and -- unlike expensive metal or plastic supports -- blend in nicely.
I especially value the branches that are long and straight. I collect them throughout the year, trimming off any side branches. Then I cut them in various lengths of roughly 2, 4, 6 and 8 feet. They are perfect for a variety of staking tasks.
- The 2 -foot stakes are good for making an a X-shaped support, almost like a partial fence, around the perimeter of plantings. This year I’m using it to prop up my 3-foot tall tarragon plant that insists on flopping off to one side. I’m also using this series of stakes to contain my planting of perennial salvia, a drift of about six plants growing about 3 feet high and as wide and about 6 feet long. It keeps flopping onto the lawn, so I’ve created a similar cross-hatched fence for it to keep it out of the way of the mower.
- The 4-foot stakes are well-suited to providing support to tall slender plants. These might be tomatoes just getting started (I’ll use larger supports on them later). Or it might be some tall German bearded iris flower stalks that are tilting off to the side under the weight of their big, beautiful flowers. I simply insert the stake in the soil and use beige or dark green garden twine to tie them lightly to their support.
- The 6-foot stakes are useful in supporting taller perennials and smaller shrubs, like corralling my sprawling Annabelle hydrangea (4 feet high and wide) that insists on covering part of a narrow garden path. These 6-footers are also ideal for supporting my tall baptisia (a 4-footer) and a perennial sunflower that grows about 6 feet high and maybe 4 feet wide. With these 6-footers, I simply insert (sometimes with the help of a mallet) them a foot or more into the soil around the perimeter of the plant. Then I use the twine to make a type of fence around them. Sometimes, I also criss-cross the twine to make a rough sort of grid to support them. This string grid is especially effective if I can get my act together in time to do it when the plants are only a couple of feet high so they will grow through the twine grid.
- The 8-foot stakes are excellent for making teepees. Just insert at least three and up to seven or eight of these stakes in the ground in a circle. Then lash the top together with twine. These are perfect supports for climbing plants like large-flowering clematis, tall types of roses, and shorter annual vegetable and flowering vines that don’t exceed 10 feet.
I also love salvaging other materials for stakes. One of my favorites is rebar. We had a pile of it, rusting away, in a pile at the family farm, so I rescued them. You can find rebar scraps at salvage places and if you’re lucky, on a curb. The rust simply helps them blend into the landscape. They are super sturdy and are excellent for making sure my 8-foot Joe Pye weed and 8-foot ornamental grasses don’t flop.
With rebar poles around my giant ornamental grasses, I use a small sledgehammer to pound three or four into the ground, in a circle around the base of the plant. Then I use beige lightweight rope (not garden twine) to keep these large, heavy plants in check.
Other salvaged materials for stakes could include scrap lumber, old curtain and shower rods, lengths of PVC or other pipe, or remnants from a home or deck demo project. If they are brightly colored or shiny, consider painting them dark green or brown to blend in.
Once you start using salvage materials for stakes an supports, you'll find many other suitable materials that will spark your imagination and keep your plants upright and beautifully in check.
Veronica Lorson Fowler is co-publisher of the Iowa Gardener website at www.theiowagardener.com.
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