Many plants want to grow upward. Some tall annuals, perennials and vegetables are not strong enough to fight the law of gravity alone.
Enter the gardener.

For some plants, a grower may use a fence. For her first garden, Mary planted her snow peas along the back yard boundary fence. Because peas climb upward, helped by twining tendrils, this worked well.

A trellis may be delicate or sturdy. Sweet peas (with beautiful, often-scented flowers in jewel colors) can fill in the frame of nylon mesh as a screen or simply as a delightful work of art. Pole beans need more support. I’ve used bird netting with great success. For cucumbers or gourds, use strong wire on a solid frame.

Another kind of trellis, for roses, clematis or other vines is a decorative, wood-framed tower or pyramid called a tuteur. Try this, also, for morning glories or scarlet runner beans.

Once, gardeners felt they had a choice: grow tomatoes upright or let the vines lie on straw mulch-covered ground. Nowadays, there’s the wonder-tomato, growing upside down (a delightful, gimmicky conversation piece). Not too many growers permit their tomatoes to lounge among the slugs any more. One year, I set up four-foot tall circles of cattle fence and tied tomatoes at intervals around the outside. Inside was compost, to which I added kitchen scraps and grass clippings. The tomatoes continued to bear fruit almost to December.

(A reminder: Indeterminate-type tomato vines continue to elongate and fruit over a long season. Determinate kinds grow to a certain height and then stop. Their fruit is borne all at once – fine for canning, relish and ketchup – and that’s the end of the crop. Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes are indeterminate; determinates are patio varieties.)

Heavy-headed peonies need braces to keep them upright. Once you’ve bought your peony corsets, you can store them and use them for years.

Bamboo or wood stakes – about four – may surround a clump of tall dahlias or daisies. Using string, twine it once around each stake before repeating, one by one, with the other sticks. Tie it off to make a corral. Making this too tight is unnatural; give the clump a little leeway.

Make the circle eight to 10 inches from the ground, and as the stems grow, add one or two more, at four-inch intervals. Allow about four to six inches at the top so the flower heads don’t look strangled.

It’s possible to buy metal stakes which link together to suit your plant. These may be saved, year after year.

For a single tall flower such as a dahlia, use one stick. Push it into the ground at least 6 inches, and three or four inches away from the plant. Tie loosely to the plant, perhaps making a figure 8 of the string.

Be aware that strong winds and heavy rains are two reasons you may need that staking, so don’t be so tender about it that the plants would fall over into the mud.

Two points: use green stakes (even painting some on those long winter evenings) or sturdy bamboo, to help your garden look its natural best. 

For twine, sturdy cotton would be good, especially if green. When the gardening season is over, the string may be composted, unlike nylon or other synthetic materials. 

For some gardeners, these words may be a little too late. If so, clip this column to refer to next season.

Staking, supporting and trellising can go a long way to keeping your garden from fainting on the ground and your flowers and vegetables at their upright best.