DIY Plant Supports: How British Gardeners Support Their Perennials
One of the best things about visiting gardens in England is seeing so many well-grown plants, beautifully displayed. Even cottage gardens, which are naturally a bit chaotic, display an underlying sense of order. You don’t see plants sprawling on their neighbors, with tangled stems heading in a dozen different directions.
Why do the same plants behave so poorly in when they’re growing in MY garden?
On a visit to England last June, I discovered at least one of the reasons: pea sticks. British gardeners use twiggy branches (usually called pea sticks) to create discrete yet incredibly effective supports for everything from sweet peas to perennials. Read on to learn more about how you can put this idea to work in your own flower garden.
A Low-Tech Solution for Supporting Plants
In England, every gardener knows what pea sticks are, where they come from, and how to use them. When it’s pea-planting time in England, you can pick up bundles of 5′ pea sticks at any local garden center.
The source for most of these pea sticks is coppiced hazel. Coppicing is an ancient forestry management technique, used to produce wood for everything from fencing and wickerwork to shipbuilding, firewood and…pea sticks.
To coppice a tree, you simply cut it back to a stump on an annual or semi-annual basis and harvest the young sprouts. Hazel (a shrubby type of birch) is the preferred wood for pea sticks, but a number of different types of trees are coppiced.
You won’t find pea sticks for sale here in the U.S., but any twiggy branches will work. This spring I used a combination of birch (ideal), lilac, and red dogwood. If you see a neighbor or local landscaping crew doing some pruning nearby, they would probably be glad to give you as many branches as you like. Live in a rural area? Ask a farmer if there’s an area you could cut from.
What Makes a Good Pea Stick?
There are just three requirements for a good pea stick. The branches must be twiggy so there are lots of places for plants to grab or rest on. They should be cut in winter or very early spring so there are no leaves (not a deal breaker – just won’t look quite as neat). And the branches have to be young and supple (not stiff and brittle) so they can be bent as needed. If you cut the bottom of the stems on an angle, it will be easier to push them into the soil.
Almost any sticks can be used to make plant supports. The ones on the left were too brittle to make a nice bend. The ones on the right were cut too late and are leafing out. They will still get the job done just fine.
Though the primary use for pea sticks is to support peas, British gardeners also use them to make loosely woven cages for supporting perennials. If you put them in place early, the plants grow up through the armature and completely hide it.
These DIY, customizable plants supports are a perfect solution for summer perennials that are prone to falling over just as they reach their prime. In England, I saw them used on nepeta, asters, delphiniums, perennial geraniums, lupins, phlox and even roses. If sturdy enough, these twiggy cages will also support dahlias.
How to Make Your Own Twiggy Plant Supports
With a little practice, you can make a customized support for almost any type of plant. Here are a couple things to keep in mind.
Aim for having a finished cage that’s about 2/3 as tall as the mature plant. This way, the plant will be well supported, yet the structure will be hidden.
Nepeta (AKA catmint) is a notorious flopper and a good plant to experiment on. Here’s how to make a simple cage that will rein in an unruly nepeta.
Most types of nepeta grow about 18″ tall, so the finished cage should stand about 12″ tall. Start by selecting four, 14″ long twiggy branches. Space them evenly around the plant (thick end down), positioning the base of the pea stick stem at the outside edge of the clump. Push the stems 2-3″ into the ground at a very slight inward-facing angle. When making taller cages (like for a delphinium) you’ll need to push your pea sticks a few inches further into the ground.
Now for the crafty part. The objective is to create a basket-like cage over the plant by bending the twigs toward each other. If the stems are very twiggy, you can simply intertwine them in a way that they stay connected. To reinforce the structure, feel free to weave in additional stems on the sides or across the top. Examples shown in this post were some of the many I saw last June. Each is original and customized to the plant.
The Original Sustainable Plant Supports
Besides being effective and free, these pea stick plant supports are also ephemeral. No plastic. No wire. At the end of the season you can leave them in place for next year, move them to a dry place and store for another year of use, or break them up for kindling.
Pea sticks are just the kind of practical solution gardeners love. You’ll find more practical tips and inspiration here: How to Select Perennials for All Season Color and Why and How to Divide Perennials.
Just made some from dogwood. I cut off dead twiggy bits. Will hope to support Dallas.
Hi Janet – Glad you are giving this technique a try. Dahlias that get very large and will need stout branches to support them.
How about peonies? Their heads get so big and when wet they flop over.
Hi Sheila – In this article you’ll find some suggestions for that problem: 5 Tips for Growing Peonies
HI Kath,
I just discovered this blog and have found this article very very helpful. The article along with the photos inspire me to try making a structure for sweet peas. So, one question is since these plants are very vertical what should be the approximate measurement for the length and width of the cage. I know it will depend on how many plants i set in but i guess i am looking from the wall i am planting them against to the garden bed and how much space i should allow. do you have suggestions?
Hi Janie – When the growing conditions are ideal, sweet peas can easily reach 6-7 feet tall. I have never had such luck. Mine usually top out at around 4 feet. So you could be optimistic and plan on supporting them to a height of 6 feet. There are many different ways to support sweet peas. You can tie each stem to its own bamboo cane as this grower does: How to Grow Sweet Peas for Cut Flowers. You can grow them around a teepee made of bamboo canes or against trellis netting that has 6″ openings. And then there are pea stakes, as mentioned in the blog post. You can also make your own pea trellis by weaving twine between a row of stakes. As far as spacing, take a look at the blog post in the link above. It will give you a sense of how closely you can plant your sweet peas. Depending on the width of the bed, you may want to put in a double row. Just make sure you have easy access to the plants as sweet peas are not good climbers and the vines need to be tied to the support at regular intervals. You’ll also want to get at them for cutting. Hope this helps. Have fun!
Hi Kath,
Thanks for your very quick response!! We have sun today so i went out and gathered some birch branches/twigs which my husband had cut. I positioned some in the bed on the south side of my greenhouse and I do not think this is going to work so will at some point i will weave some twine between birch branches as we have many. As you said sweet peas do grow to a good height. I hope I have success this year as before I just didn’t have adequate support for the stems. The information you have given is so helpful so I will continue to look for articles you have written on plants/flowers you write. Thank you again!
ps. Is this the best blog to find both new and older posts you have written??
Hi again – I have been writing for Longfield Gardens for about 5 years, so you can find lots of older posts right here. Good luck with your sweet peas. My friend Erin, who blogs as The Impatient Gardener, has great success with sweet peas. Here is one of her blog posts from last year: How to Grow Great Sweet Peas.
Thank you! I will be sure to check out your older posts. I am a bit familiar with Erin, at the Impatient Gardener and find her tips, like yours helpful. I will head on over to her sweet pea blog now.
janie