{"id":2487,"date":"2019-11-07T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-113\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T13:29:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T20:29:23","slug":"on-what-causes-plants-to-flop-over","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-what-causes-plants-to-flop-over\/","title":{"rendered":"on what causes plants to flop over"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>What causes my chrysanthemums to do the big flop? One even came out of the ground! We have had a lot of rain lately, and it seems like a lot of plants did the big floppy, from roses to sedum, and now the mums. Is it all weather-related?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yes, certainly the weather contributes to the big flop. Certain perennials just can&#8217;t stand up to heavy mist and rain.<\/p>\n<p>Some gardeners stake their flop-prone plants before they flop over, while others dig them up and grow things that don&#8217;t flop.<\/p>\n<p>You can prune perennials to help prevent flop. Typically you cut a perennial back by 1\/3 a few months before it flowers. This causes the plant to branch out, producing a bushier, shorter, less floppy plant. In <i>The Well-Tended Perennial Garden<\/i> (Tracy DiSabato-Aust, 1998), the author suggests that staking be done early: &#8230;after the first flush of growth but before full growth. The stems need to be sturdy, and flower buds should not be formed yet&#8230;[stake] without adulterating the normal habit of the plants. Follow the natural line of the stem. (p.63)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What causes my chrysanthemums to do the big flop? One even came out of the ground! We have had a lot of rain lately, and it seems like a lot of plants did the big floppy, from roses to sedum, and now the mums. Is it all weather-related? Yes, certainly the weather contributes to the big flop. Certain perennials just can&#8217;t stand up to heavy mist and rain. Some gardeners stake their flop-prone plants before they flop over, while others&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/on-what-causes-plants-to-flop-over\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">on what causes plants to flop over<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[296,104],"class_list":["post-2487","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-perennials-care-and-maintenance","keyword-pruning"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}