CAGES - part one.

There are three sizes of plant cages available, the small “tomato cages” the tall cages like tomato cages on steroids and the big fat peony cages. All are inadequate for the northern garden where our large plants soon outgrow them. Nevertheless, now is the time to start putting a few cages around the fastest growers because you cannot easily get them in place once the plants take off, which will happen in a couple of weeks. Our long hours of sunshine and cool nights with abundant dew just send the plants leaping skywards.

The three plants which must be caged are the 1) delphiniums, 2) monks hood and 3) peonies. Other large plants such as phlox need little or no staking or tying up. I put a cage over my huge bleeding heart just to keep it from flowing over its neighbours, but bleeding heart usually does not have to be supported. The Japanese peony, a smallish plant, is happy with a peony ring, a hoop of wire on a metal stake. These are close to useless for full sized bombe type peonies. I also cage the big goat’s beard.

Stay tuned for tips on caging your peony