Pacific Northwest Gardening: How has gardening changed for you over the years???, 0 by

wrote:
Now I have to see what hog wire is.
I've always considered supporting plants to be somewhat of an artistic endeavor, depending on the plants. I am prone to plant things that need support so that they grow through something else, such as dahlias through rose bushes, or lilies through smoke trees, or even through exbury azaleas. Then, if it's a dahlia, for instance, I like to mess around with the branches of the plants, placing them 'just so' for the right effect. It's a little soothing to me, sort of like decorating. So I don't really think of it as work yet.
For my peonies, I use those little wire fences that you can move around. I actually like those for a lot of plants that can be a bit floppy. I like for the peonies to droop a bit, but I agree that when they fling themselves in the mud it's a tad annoying. I let them droop artistically over the edges of those cheap little fences. You can bend the fences to any shape and the ones with the round tops I bend down so that the top is more of a U shape. Then they hold the plants in place nicely.