Use the Right Support Stake for Each Border Plant – You'll Stop the Flop and Keep Your Garden in Shape All Summer
Let’s untangle all the confusion over which stakes best suit which plants, shall we? Here's everything you need to know about plant supports…
Adverts for plant supports have a lot to answer for. Practically every support is listed as being suitable for peonies, roses and hydrangeas to maximise sales, but try some of them in your garden with these powerhouse plants and you'll quickly discover they’re next to useless. The wrong support stakes can even make those precious stems more likely to snap, and create the perfect congested conditions for disease. But for the right plants? Those supports are just perfect!
The reality is that you can't rely on product descriptions to tell you which support will work best for a particular border plant. But don't fret, because everything you need to know to cut through the nonsense and choose the exact best stakes to support your border plants is right here, whether you're looking to support a peony or rose, salvia or dahlia.
Match the right type of support with the right plant, and not only will your flowers be properly bolstered but the stakes will quickly be covered by foliage. Staking plants will be a task you do just once in spring or early summer, too, rather than forever trying to prop up flopping stems with an ever-more complicated structure of bamboo canes and pea sticks as the season progresses. But the best bit? Well-supported plants grow upwards rather than splaying outwards, which means you can squeeze even more into your border. And that is just as fine a reason to invest in the right plant supports!
1. Half-Round Support
Half-round supports are typically constructed from a single length of sturdy wire, bent to form a semi-circle shape with two long arms that push into the ground. These are best used to support plants with unruly stems that tend to splay outwards such as salvias, catmints and hardy geraniums. They're particularly useful to stop plants spilling over paths and border edges. A few half-round supports strategically placed in a border can corral more vigorous plants and stop them swamping slower-growing perennials, too.
Using two half-round supports around an ornamental grass is also a useful way to prevent it from being flattened in heavy rain or strong winds.
Your aim is to give the plant a supportive space to grow in, not to prevent it from moving. So, the support needs to be plenty wide enough that the stems don't spill out either side when it's windy. Some, such as this support from Lowes, are extra curvy to prevent this from happening. If you struggle to find half-rounds that are wide enough, you can also use multiple supports together: many frames such as these from Amazon are made with a loop or ‘U’ shape at one side so they’re easily linked by pushing an arm of a second support through this gap.
Frames also need to be sufficiently tall that you can sink at least a quarter of the arms’ length into the soil for sturdy support. The right height for the ring to sit above the ground will depend on your plant: for a natural shape, the half-round needs to sit at the height that stems would naturally start to curve outwards.
2. Grow-Through Grid
Supports that provide a grid for stems to grow through were first developed for plants with top-heavy blooms such as peonies and dahlias, and the idea is that they’re put in place early so are soon covered by foliage. However, many modern grow-through supports are far flimsier than their forebears: use a lightweight grow-through grid such as this from Amazon for a peony and the plant will just take the support with it as it grows upwards!
For a large, strong plant such as a peony, you need a large, strong grid with gaps that are big enough for stems to comfortably grow through, such as this, also from Amazon. Push the arms deep into the ground for strong support, so the grid no higher than a foot above the ground.
Lightweight grow-through supports are still very useful, but use them for less robust plants with a plethora of small stems, and in particular those with spires of flowers such as salvia and veronica. Again, position them low enough to be hidden by the leaves, and they'll still do a grand job of keeping stems upright.
3. Fluted Cage
A better option for supporting peonies is a fluted cage, and they'll support roses well, too. These provide strong support at the plant's core while allowing it to naturally grow into a pleasingly bushy shape.
The flared shape of these cages also make them a useful support for many clump-forming herbaceous perennials that flower abundantly such as echinacea (coneflower) and agapanthus. The frame allows the stems to move around but supports them through bouts of bad weather when the heavily-laden stems would otherwise be floored.
Do choose a support that's big enough, though. Used with a sizeable shrub, a cage that’s barely wider than a foot such as this from Amazon could lead to congested stems and restricted airflow, which can leave a plant susceptible to fungal disease. This is particularly important with peonies and roses, for whom this wider 22-inch diameter cage, also from Amazon, would be a smarter buy.
4. Domed Plant Cage
Domed plant cages, sometimes called bird cage supports, are useful both for top-heavy plants such as peonies, roses and hydrangeas, and smaller-stemmed herbaceous plants that tend to splay open in the centre, like catmint, asters and taller sedums. You can use them in two ways: as a largely hidden support for the central stems to give a plant core strength; and as a more ornamental frame that keeps the entire plant more upright.
When you’re choosing which size to buy, bear in mind that those lower arms are supposed to be pushed into the soil up to, or pretty near to, the lower ring. Then decide whether you want the support to be covered by the plant, or act as an ornamental frame for the blooms.
Either way, a domed cage offers the best of both worlds, offering support but allowing the plant to grow into a natural shape. Its other advantage is that it looks attractive through winter, too, so can be left in place for garden structure when borders may be looking bare. For this reason, look for a metal support that’s powder-coated rather than plastic-coated, such as this domed frame from Amazon, as this is more durable when left outdoors permanently.
5. Obelisk
A tall obelisk allows you to grow a climber such as a climbing rose or clematis mid-border as a wonderful garden accent. You’ll need to check the height of the mature plant when choosing your obelisk – though you can easily keep your plant pruned to any size, its final height is a good indicator of how vigorously it grows and so how strong the support needs to be.
Bear in mind, too, that an obelisk cloaked with stems and leaves will catch the wind, so aim to sink a fifth of its height into the ground. Many obelisks have the lower ring positioned in a spot that prevents this, or the lower legs are angled outwards which makes it almost impossible to push into the earth firmly enough.
Look carefully at how the parts of a self-assembly obelisk fix together. If the pieces simply slot rather than screw together, you may find that a mature plant is strong enough to disassemble your lovely obelisk!
A plant that likes to twine and pull itself up a support, like clematis, will find it easier to climb up an obelisk with lots of thin horizontal struts such as this spiral metal frame from Wayfair. You, however, will find it easier to tie a non-twining plant such as a climbing rose to a support with sturdier struts such as this copper steel obelisk from Lowes. Velcro plant ties such as these from Amazon are the way forward as they're easily adjustable and can be reused many times over.
Don’t discount shorter obelisks in a border, too. There are plenty of compact clematis vines whose stems only reach 3–4 feet, such as the glorious ‘Ithemba’ available from Nature Hills, that would grow beautifully on a lower support like this bird-topped obelisk from Amazon.
6. Bamboo Canes
For skyrocketing stems with sumptuous flowers - think delphiniums and dinnerplate dahlias like ‘Cafe au Lait’ - the best support comes from bamboo stakes such as these from Amazon. Don’t tie stems directly to stakes or they may snap in the wind, however. It’s far better to push a few stakes around the plant, then create a criss-cross lattice between them with garden twine like this from Amazon, that prevents stems toppling over but allows them to move naturally.
Use stakes that are long enough to provide not only a cat’s cradle of supporting string around a foot off the ground, but another criss-cross layer higher up once plants have grown through the first.
When you’re choosing what cane length to buy, remember that you will push around a fifth of the stake into the ground so it stays firm even when the soil dries out or gets saturated by heavy rain. And do be careful to push stakes in far enough away from dahlias to avoid damaging the tubers, or add them when planting. Cane toppers such as these from Amazon will extend the canes' life and ensure you don't get a nasty poke in the eye when tending to your blooms.
7. Single Stem Supports
Single supports are vertical stakes with a circular loop at the top to hold a single stem. These are designed to be used with plants that throw up upright, heavily-laded flowering stems with multiple blooms in a cluster like agapanthus and alliums, or in a spire such as foxgloves, delphiniums and gladioli. But only use them if you can find stakes that are long enough for the loop to fit at least two thirds of the way up the stem, and factor in that at least a fifth of the support’s length will need to be sunk into the ground. So these 36" single stem supports from Amazon would be about right for 3'-tall stems.
Give stems this type of support any lower down and they’re likely to snap. It’s also vital that the stem isn’t held too tightly, but has a little room to move around in the wind. So, keep single stakes that are short or hold stems very snugly such as these from Amazon for indoor use, such as to support an orchid bloom.
If you can’t find suitable stakes tall enough for your stems, it’s far better to support this type of border plant using bamboo and string, creating a supportive criss-cross framework for stems to grow through, as detailed above, rather than tying individual stems to stakes.
