All tied up
I like tall plants (and I cannot lie). Show me a six foot sunflower, and I’ll yawn. Show me a ten foot sunflower, and suddenly you’ll have my attention—”the bigger the better,” I say. Caring for such tall plants, however, requires giving them some support and tying them up so they don’t topple in the wind.
Here’s the problem: I hate the look of garden tape (top left). It never matches anything in nature, and draws attention to itself instead of the plants. Instead of admiring my 10-foot+ hollyhock, I see green plastic tape.
So this weekend, I did something about it, using silicon adhesive and green jute to create a new form of plant support (bottom left). The process is simple: Apply a glob of silicon adhesive to your support surface, sink the jute into it, and, for good measure, top it off with one more glob. I used white adhesive so it would show up better in the photos, but it’s also available in clear.
Here’s the hard part: You have to wait for it to dry overnight, then tie the plant up next day.
One of the best things about silicon adhesive is that it cleans up easy. It comes off your hands with soap and water, and you can remove it from other surfaces with a putty knife. So at the end of the season, when I cut down the hollyhock, I can scrape it right off of the support.
As for the hollyhock, this variety is called “Aunt Brownie’s Fig“—I bought mine last year from Annie’s Annuals. It’s already more than ten feet tall, and I think it will hit 12 feet by the time it’s fully grown.
