It’s the season of wind in eastern Washington. While we get wind most seasons of the year, spring is often the worst.

You can recognize the signs of a windy area by looking at the plants. Trees lean in one direction if not supported. Plants take on a beaten look and many plants will flop over. In order to have a beautiful floral show this garden season, something needs to be done to keep the plants upright. Staking to the rescue.

You don’t have to live in a windy climate, however, to need support for your plants. There are many reasons why you should add support structures to the plants in your garden.

Why You Need to Stake Your Plants…

Staking your trees, shrubs, perennials and even annual plants can help maintain a beautiful, lush garden. Here are three reasons to stake your plants.

Staking Supports Your Garden Plants

Whether it’s the wind, rain or just top heavy plants, staking can provide support for your wonderful plants. When taller plants are unsupported, their stems can break. Staking helps to keep your plants upright. When tied to a support, you are less likely to have broken stems.

Vining plants will need something to attach to as they grow. Adding a support structure provides a surface to attach to.

Staking Keeps Your Garden Beds Tidy

While I love the look of a cottage garden filled to brimming with flowers and plants, keeping the plants upright is vital. This helps you to maintain the floral show. When plants flop over, they can cover up other shorter plants. This can slow the growth of the covered flowers and reduce the visual impact of the flowers that have flopped over.

A garden of flopped over plants also looks messy. Staking your plants upright helps you to enjoy the show and keep a tidy look. Some people don’t like the look of poles and other support structures in their garden. However, if you place these structures early in the season, eventually stems and leaves can hide them.

Staking Prevents Taller Plants From Flopping Over

The taller your garden plant is, the more likely it is to flop over as it grows. Especially if the stems are weak. But even strong stems can lean when exposed to wind and rain. And tall plants with abundant flowers such as dahlias are especially susceptible.

Last summer I planted my bed of dahlias with two forms of support. I corralled all the plants in the bed with t-posts and twine. Then I also used netting as they grew. I used two layers actually. I placed the first layer at one and a half feet and a second layer at three feet. Even with all these methods of support, my dahlias still leaned from the wind. Eventually, I had shorter dahlias that were completely buried by the taller plants. So this year, I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to individually stake each dahlia to prevent them from leaning.

Options for Staking Your Plants…

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link, I can make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See Privacy Policy for more details.

There are many techniques for staking your garden plants. Some of these techniques involve purchased items, while other techniques use free materials from your garden. You can also recycle vintage items to use.

Purchased Options

When you shop around, you can find many items that will help support your plants. Here are some typical support items you can purchase.

• T-Posts
• Bamboo Poles
• Plastic Coated Metal Poles
• Plant Rings
• Garden Netting
• Arbors
• Trellises

Natural Options From Your Garden

There are ways to create garden stakes without purchasing a new item. Using natural items from your yard can help keep your staking simple. This could include using branches that have broken or been pruned off your trees. Branches trimmed to a Y shape can by used to support individual flower heads. Twiggy branches can support bushier plants.

Also consider recycling older materials and vintage items to use for support. For example, metal garden gates, fence panels, wooden ladders, old metal bed frames, and vintage doors can be used for supporting your climbing shrubs and flowers.

Favorite Ways to Stake Your Garden Plants

How you stake your plants will depend on what the plant is. Here are some of my favorite ways to stake plants in the garden.

Corral the Plants

This method uses corner poles and twine to help contain plants in one area. Corner poles can be purchased or made from branches. Simply poke the poles into the four corners of the area you want to corral your plants. Then attach twine to one pole and pull the twine to the next pole. Loop around the pole and move on to another pole and finally back to the first pole and tie off the twine. Start at about 1-2 feet. Then, as the plant grows, add another layer of twine. Continue to add layers as needed.

Individual Poles

Individual poles are best for your tall, top heavy plants. Especially if you have multiple plants in one area. Pound the pole into the ground 2 to 3 inches from the plant. As the plant grows, loosely tie the plant to the pole. To attach the plant to the pole, use a soft material such as twine, pipe cleaners, strips of soft cloth, or twist ties. You can also find plastic clips to attach plants, but be sure that the size of the stem will fit into the clip when fully grown.

Grow-Through Support Rings

Support rings work well for plants that grow heavier as the flowers form. Peonies, tall phlox and delphiniums can benefit from these rings. As the plant grows, the stems grow through the openings of the rings. This helps to hold the stems in place as they get top heavy.

Garden Netting

This method works well for single stem plants. Snapdragons, larkspur, and poppies can all benefit from this form of support. Even bushy plants can benefit from garden netting. Determine the area to support and put stakes in the corners. Attach the netting to one side and roll it out to the other side and attach.

Place the netting before your plants have reached the measured height. The plants will grow up through the openings and will be less likely to lean over. Be sure to purchase netting with large openings. You want a 3-4 inch hole so plants can grow through.

You can also place netting vertically for vining plants such as sweet peas to grow up. Attach the netting between two poles in an upright position.

Cris-Cross Sticks

This technique can help keep your plants in the border rather than lying down in your pathways. Take two 2-3 foot stakes, sticks or branches. Place one stick at an angle in front of a plant that’s growing out of bounds. Next, take a second stick and cross it in front of the first stick. Be sure the sticks are firmly pushed into the ground. The crossed sticks will help to hold the plant upright.

Wire Rings

Use wire to form rings around your plants. Depending on the plant, the rings can be short or tall. We use them for many of our vegetable garden plants such as tomatoes. Wire rings work well when you need to control a large, busy plant.

There are a variety of wire sizes you can use. Chicken wire can be used to make small rings. But wire with larger holes works better for larger rings. These larger openings will allow plants to grow through and still be supported.

Arbors, Tuteurs, Trellises and Obelisks

These types of garden supports are valuable for individual plants, climbers and vining plants. When a plant needs something to attach to as they grow, these can provide the support the plant needs. They can work for your perennials such as clematis, climbing roses, and climbing hydrangeas. You can also use these to support annuals such as sweet peas and morning glory.

If you’re handy with tools, you might be interested in making your own garden support. Here’s a DIY article for making a French Tuteur… How to Make a French Tuteur for Your Garden.

When to Place Your Garden Stakes…

It’s a good idea to begin the staking process before you actually need it. Start with plants that you know will need to be staked. Put in the dahlia stakes when you first plant the tubers. Place garden netting over your bed of snapdragons while they’re still short. Place the grow-through rings on perennials such as peonies when the plants first begin to emerge.

As your garden grows, you can see which plants might need additional support. You can go back and add in wire rings and cris-cross sticks as needed. You can corral an area or plant that’s growing abundantly.

Garden Staking will not prevent 100% of wind blown plants. But it can help to keep many of your garden plants upright and beautiful, even when the wind is howling. Anything you can do to support your lovely flowers will keep your garden looking its best.