Stop the Flop: The Simple Secrets to Strong, Upright Flowers and Perennials

Perennials are every avid gardener dream. Plant them once and watch enjoy an ever-changing masterpiece that will help grow and shape your garden for for years to come. Combined these hardy garden warriors with with flashier seasonal plants such as geraniums and marigolds, and you have a stunning living tapestry of color and vibrance in your own backyard. Although perennials often often the unsung heroes of gardens all over the world, doing beautiful work both beneath and above the dirt, they will sometimes need support your support. Perennials are prone leaning and flopping and not supporting them can make your beautiful perennials and annuals look messy instead of amazing. Before we get into the simple fix to give your plants the backbone they need, lets answer the million dollar question all avid gardeners have once asked: 

Why Do My Flowers Fall Over?

Lets preface this by saying its just yours. Many popular garden plants such as Peonies, Delphiniums, Phlox and Asters are known for being a tad bit weak-kneed. They may tend to lean and flop for a few common reasons:

1. Heavy Heads: Flowers like colorful Peonies, Hydrangeas, and tall Dahlias grow heavy, gorgeous blooms and when it rains, these flowers soak up all the water and get super heavy pulling the stems down to the ground.
2. Tall & Skinny: Other Plants like Delphiniums and Gladiolus grow and shoot up really quick and they can grow so tall making them unable to can't support their own weight and when summer winds pickup, they can tend to push these fast growers downwards.
3. Too Much Of The Good Stuff: Too much fertilizer (especially nitrogen rich fertilizers) will make some flowers bloom and shoot up quickly, which may seem like a good thing, but combine heavy blooms with thin, spindly stems, this growth spurt is almost guaranteed to cause a flop. Too much shade and not enough sun can also be a culprit, which leads us to the next reason. 
4. Chasing Sun: If a plant that loves sun is in too much shade, it will stretch and lean hard to find the light, causing the flop we want to prevent.

The Importance of Giving Your Plants Support

Supporting up propping plants is a basic plant care practice that makes all the difference, turning a sad, struggling garden into one with healthy living garden that comes together to create a stunning living tapestry. Here are some of the benefits you’ll reap from lending a helping hand

• Bigger, Better Blooms: When stems bend or break from leaning to far on one side, your plants can struggle sending water and nutrients up to the flower. Keeping them upright means bigger, better and healthier blooms.
• Keep Disease and Mold Away: Plants that that touch the top soil can easily get   diseases or be eaten by bugs. Supporting them up means keeping them away from these critters and diseases
• Clean Edges: Propping plants upward helps keep your flowers from leaning over paths or crowding other plants.

Just like in the medical world, prevention is the best medicine and......

The Secret: Being Early and Gentle

Our best gardening tip to prevent flowering flop and all the bad that comes with it is; The best time to support a flower is before it needs it.

1. The Early Bird Gets the Bloom: As soon as your flowering plants start growing maybe just a tad bit over a foot high, start putting your supports in the ground. This way, the plant grows up through the support, and the support disappears into the leaves as it gets taller. It looks natural and gives the plant support from the start.
2. Half-Circle Magic: For perennials that grow in big clumps, like Asters or Coneflowers, you don't need a full cage. A half-round support placed along the front edge of a flower bed or pathway can give them the neat edge they need, keeping them from leaning out. These half-circle supports are super handy because they let you tend to the plant easily from the back!
   

A Friendly Hand for Your Garden

We all love beautiful gardens, and taking care of them is a joy. Giving your flowers a little support is a simple way to show them you care. When you use sturdy, easy-to-use tools—like our heavy-duty half-round plant supports—it makes the job simple and fun. It's about giving your garden a helping hand so your plants can stand tall and proud all season long!