Expert: C.L. Fornari - 7/31/2007

Question
I planted a bunch of snap dragon's but they are leaning over instead of standing up straight. the area is sun to part shade. The other flowers in the area are doing well. Is their something I can do?

Thanks in advance

Answer
John,
My guess is that they are leaning toward the sun...snap dragons like full sun, and although they will tolerate part sun, they will always lean toward the brightest area.  Also, even in sun they can lean as the blooms come out because they are so top heavy...people who grow these as cut flowers often put two stakes on either side of the row and run strings down them on either side of the row to support the plants.  If you want, you could prop your plants up either with thin bamboo stakes or with twiggy branches stuck into the soil in front of the plants so that the snaps lean onto the branches.  Another simple support is to take very stiff wire or a coat hanger and make a two foot stake with a loop at the end of it (the loop being bent at right angles to the stake) that has an opening so that you can slip the stem into the circle at the end of the wire.  This is an unobtrusive way to stake a tall plant, but can be time consuming if you have lots of tall plants.

Do keep in mind that fertlizer doesn't make plants stronger, in fact it's just the opposit. Sometimes people think that fertlizing plants will make them stiffer, but fertilizer pushes bigger fast growth and this is weaker growth and more prone to flopping.

I hope this helps,
C.L.