Plump beautiful spring plants elongate into summer pushing up tall elegant flower stems. Suddenly those blooms are bowing to the ground on floppy stems.

It can be very frustrating to see huge blooms bend a weak stem, or the whole plant splaying outward under the weight of summer growth and exposing a bare center. There are several things that may cause floppy plants but there are some things gardeners can do to prevent it or at least shore up weak stems.

What causes floppy plants?

• Some plants are just prone to flopping due to naturally weak stems

• Insufficient sunlight

• Roots suffocating due to poor drainage

• Over fertilizing

• Overhead watering

• Aging plant

• Cycles of drought and rain

What to do about floppy stems

• The golden rule of garden always applies, select the proper plants for your site conditions. Conditions that plants are not happy with will cause weak growth overall, so be sure to match a plants needs as best you can to the sun and soil. And then provide the plants desired care.

• Too much nitrogen from fertilizer or compost rich soil causes fast, weak, spindly growth.

• Pinch or cut back stems early in the growing season to encourage short, strong, full stem development. Pinch up to about July.

• Cut flowers that produce large blooms for a vase arrangement before they fully open and cause the stems to bend. This is especially important before rain, which will further weight the blooms to the ground. For most plants this will encourage additional blooming also.

• Most perennials require regular division which often encourages strong healthy growth and compact plants.

• Provide consistent watering as much as possible. Be sure to supplement water in periods of drought and do not over water in rainy periods.

• Avoid overhead watering the will make blooms and foliage heavy. Even the strongest stems will strain under the weight of water.

• Plants that are not getting enough sun grow weak and will lean to the sun.

• Full and bushy perennials such as peony can be supported every year with hoops installed over the plant just as the growth emerges in spring. Hoops can be single or double tiered with multiple inner hoops depending on the plant. I find the stems need to be guided a bit as they start to grow through for the best and complete support.

• If you already have floppy plants, investigate the many ways to support them. Solutions can be as simple as putting up a short piece of decorative or inconspicuous fence around the plant. Tie tall plants to bamboo stakes with plant ties or jute. Your local garden center will also have an assortment of ready make plant stakes, many decorative. Or for a normally sturdy plant that has flopped because of unusual weather conditions, encircle the plant a foot or two off the ground with jute or even a bungee cord!

Plants that tend to flop

• Asters

• Bachelor Button

• Baptisia

• Bellflower, tall

• Goldenrod

• Joe Pye Weed

• Meadow Rue

• Monarda, Bee Balm

• Monkshood

• Peony

• Phlox

• Russian Sage

• Sedum, tall varieties

• Shasta Daisy, double flowering

• Tickseed, Coreopsis

Even all these plants that are prone to flopping over will grow strong and upright in their preferred conditions. Make your gardening just a little easier by selecting just the right plants for your site. And do look for specific cultivars of these plants that are shorter and sturdier.