Droopy Flowers

In a flower garden you can find sturdy plants, low growing plants, or droopy plants. This was my first year at growing a flower garden. I grew one plant (marigold) in a cardboard bale, others in leaf bales and some growing on top of leaves with added soil.

Once started they all seemed to grow well except for the one in a cardboard bale. It grew so small you could plant it in a pot in a doll house. I soon found the trouble for its small size. Rabbits had been eating the marigold plant as it grew. I blocked their access and now it is growing quite normal.

As some flower plants grew larger I noticed that they tended to fall over. I know why. I limited the plants to a small area of growth. Without support from neighboring plants, some spindly plants will fall over. The way to grow thin stemmed flowers is by spreading the seed when sowing and allowing the plants to grow intermingled. The plants will support each other. In my bale garden, you are limited to six inches of growth space with an empty area around the plant.

Solution: Stake the spindly plants.

California Poppy

Snapdragon

Forget-me-not

Bachelor Button

All your flowering plants do not need staking. But when you do stake the ones that look disorderly, it really makes your flower garden look pretty. And you learn to appreciate the ones that take no work like this Gerbera daisy that grows low to the ground.

  

Gerbera Daisy