Types Of Flower Supports

We often get asked, which support to use for which type of flower. 

There is nothing more devastating than a big wind coming through the patch and  those precious stems snapping and losing the flower. 

I've listed 3 simple methods of support below.

Netting

Netting is a good option for tall flowers such as zinnia and cosmos, good netting will prevent stems from breaking and help create nice straight stems for cutting.

You will need a roll of plastic flower netting, plastic netting works better than jute as it's very strong and you can use it year on year, jute can decompose. Also you will need some wooden or metal stakes around 1.5m tall.

Netting your flower beds will need to be done while the plants are small, leaving it too late will become a tangled mess and result in snapping stems. 

Place the stakes a metre apart along either side of the garden bed. Then you will want the netting to be the same length and width as the bed.

Stretching the netting as tight as you can over the stakes will prevent any saggy-ness. Netting needs to be super tight to give the best support to flowers. 

For extra tall flowers like larkspur and delphiniums you will need to do two rows of netting.

Trellising

This method is used for vertical climbing flowers like sweet peas.

You will need some metal or wooden stakes 2.5 metres tall, strong plastic flower netting, cable ties and jute string.

Place the posts 3m apart behind the flower seedlings and run the flower netting across and use the cable ties to attached the netting to the posts. Make sure the netting is pulled as tight as you can, any saggy-ness will cause the climbing flowers to flap around in the wind and snap.

You will need to tie the flower vines weekly to the netting with some soft material like jute string, anything too hard will cut into the stem and damage the vine. 

Corralling

Corralling is used for bushy bulky plants that have heavy blooms, like dahlias. You will need metal or wooden posts around 2m tall and baling twine. Place each post every 2m around the outside of the row of plants (boxing them in), then wrap twine around each post looping twice, make sure the string is pulled very tight. You will need to do 2-3 layers of the string, each layer of string 30cm apart. 

I hope this helps when it comes time to giving your flowers some extra support.

Happy gardening, Bec