Stakes, cages and trellises are vital for a successful garden. From flowering vines to tomato plants, runner beans to peonies, so many plants gain from a support structure.
You've done your planning and selected the plants you want for your landscape beds and vegetable garden. Colour and abundance are on their way! It's time to extend your love and give them the plant supports they need. Then, watch your plants thrive and provide you with that special joy that comes with seeing an idea come to vibrant life.
These can be large or small and made from a variety of materials. Style is personal, so make them your own!
Check out these garden saviours below. And see just how, where, and when they can help.
Garden stakes
Stakes ensure that plants stand tall and protect them against the elements, such as heavy winds.
Criterias for an appropriate garden stake:
- long and straight
- should run up approximately 2/3 of the mature plant you want it to support.
Essential support for:
- Flowering perennials and vegetable plants you expect to grow over a few feet tall.
- Young trees, which will 'outgrow'their stakes when they are sufficiently strong.
- For training fruit trees. Choosea heavier material so the stakes can be driven in deeper.
Garden trellises
Basically, a trellis is an upright panel with crisscrossing horizontal and vertical lines.It is the ideal way to support flowering or fruiting vines that climb and support themselves by using twining stems, tendrils, aerial roots or adhesive disks.
It can be very simple and plain or a decorative, architectural structure. It can also be used as an accent piece in a garden, a privacy screen, or an original way to dress up an exterior wall.
You can easely make your own trellis from bamboo stakes for an earthy, natural, personal look.You'll need several bamboo canes in different diameters (larger for the vertical pieces, smaller for the horizontals), lashing cord to secure the joins, and a hand saw.
Plant cages
Cages are a kind of fence around your plant to protect it as it matures, to help it grow vertically strong instead of on the ground. Basically, it supports plants that are not able to support themselves.
Cages come in three shapes - round, square, or triangular - with three or four vertical rods, inserted into the ground like stakes, and three or four horizontal rods.
