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Monday, June 4, 2012

Staking Perennials/Shrubs

If you didn't stake any tall plants properly with all this rain, you already know that the damage is already done. You can still prop up those fallen or sagging plants.
I had some high growing Maltese Cross sag as well as my Pink Deutzia Shrubs flopping over.
Those are the only ones I had a problem with after all this rain.  I staked everything else a couple of weeks ago in anticipation for this to happen from my past experiences.

I like to use green garden twine to make it inconspicuous.  I use different methods with the twine and stakes.
I like to use natural stakes which I salvage from the trimming of larger shrubs in my garden. I also look for arrow wood viburnum shrubs which grow wild in my area.  I will cut a few live straight branches from each plant without damaging it.  They grow like weeds anyway.
These can be reused for a few years before they lose their strength.

I don't have any pictures on how to stake your plants it but its easy enough to figure out.

What I do with a sagging branch from a shrub is to find a stick long enough with a Y at the top and use that to prop up the branch.  You can also tie back branches to a firm anchor of some sorts to get it to a more vertical position. Trial and error is the best method for what works for a specific plant.   

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