![]() For fresh eating, follow your taste buds. I’m unaware of a kind that doesn’t grow well here in Southern California. You must stagger your plantings of different kinds of corn.Īnd there are so many different kinds of corn. Here it is growing above some honeydew melon vines on the right in the photo below.īecause corn is wind pollinated, and because we eat the seeds (kernels) of corn, you can’t plant different kinds of corn near each other without affecting their taste (assuming they tassle at the same time). And I once also tried just a single clump of three corn plants. I’ve grown just two rows of corn and gotten decent pollination - the ears were acceptably full. The good news, though, is that you can still get decent ears of corn without following that standard advice. The challenge is that you might not have 25 square feet or more of garden space to dedicate to a corn patch. Then you get ears of corn with good pollination, meaning you get ears of corn that are packed full of kernels. So by planting many rows or a block, you get a bulky area of plants with tassles releasing pollen in the breeze that is able to fall on silks of neighboring plants all around. Unless the breeze is blowing parallel to the row, the pollen will be wafted away from the plants and their silks. The breeze would come through and pollen would fall, but the pollen wouldn’t fall straight down onto the silks below the pollen would be mostly carried away by the breeze, away from the lone corn plant.Ī single row of corn plants is not much better arranged for pollination. Now we can envision why it is advised to plant corn in many rows or a block. Staking nips one of the most common bachelor’s button problems in the bud so you can enjoy your flowers.Planting arrangement and pollination, part two If you stake your plants in advance, you won’t find yourself asking “why are my flowers falling over?” later on. An advantage of these systems is that you don’t have to tie the plants. These supports are inexpensive, and although they will show more at first, they disappear as the plants grow around them. You’ll have to continuously retie the plants as they grow.Īnother alternative is to use a round or teepee-shaped wire support. You can place the stake in the center of a group of plants and weave the string around them, using as few stakes as necessary to stabilize the plants. Tie the plant loosely so that it has room to move in the breeze. Nylon lines and thin string cut into the stems and damage the plant. Tie the plants to the stakes with soft, thick string or even strips of pantyhose. Those with a green tint will blend in so that they aren’t so obvious. Bamboo poles or one inch (2.5 cm.) diameter wooden stakes are perfect. Staking Bachelor’s Buttonsįor best results, stake your flowers before they bloom. Staking bachelor’s buttons is the best way to deal with toppling plants. When thoroughly drenched, water collects between the petals to make the blossoms even heavier, and the plant’s thin stems can’t support them. They simply become top heavy, especially after heavy rain. When your bachelor’s buttons topple over, it isn’t because you’ve done anything wrong. “Why are my flowers falling over?” you ask. Anticipate the problem and take care of it early in the season. It’s a good idea to plan in advance for the likelihood that they will eventually fall. All you accomplish with a midseason cut is a loss of flowers with little time left to produce new ones.īachelor’s button stems loaded with flowers in full bloom tend to flop over just when the flowers are at their best. Unfortunately, bachelor’s buttons don’t fall into that category. ![]() ![]() Some tall flowers develop sturdy stems and a bushy growth habit when you cut them back. Learn how to deal with bachelor’s buttons falling over in this article. Like most tall annuals, bachelor’s buttons tend to fall over when loaded with flowers. There is something enchanting about an abundance of blue flowers in the garden, and one of the most popular annuals for adding blue color is bachelor’s buttons.
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