Canes for sunflowers

Our sunflowers needed some support so we got some canes. The problem is that it's windy and so the canes just won't stay upright.

It's a complete n00b question but how do I keep canes upright? I have nothing to secure them to.

I could get inventive but I wondered if there was something really simple I was missing.

 

Normally you'd push them a foot or so into the ground. Last year my beans went over in the wind, so this year i've driven two 3 inch round fence posts into the ground with a sledge hammer & used fence staples to bang a bamboo pole between the two of em.(bit like a goal post) A 1987 stylee huricane might shift that, but not much else

 

Last year I grew giant Sunflowers up the runner bean wig wams, made an interesting show and didn't blow over!

 

Piggywiggy - might I suggest something?

Ziggy suggests putting canes about a foot into the ground - my soil is so sandy, I can easily push a cane down to a depth of 30" - with a thicker piece of wood and a few hammer taps, it's no exaggeration when I say that depth can easily reach 4'.

I'd suggest either, getting 3 x 10' canes, spacing them evenly around each plant and making each plant it's own wigwam as terrier suggests, or ... if you've a row or group of sunflowers, either insert several 10' canes (angled slightly inwards towards the plants) around the outer edges of the sunflower 'bed', and then run some fine wire around the canes securing them together, or, get some cheapie 34 x 34mm PSE softwood from somewhere like Wickes (available in 2.4 m lengths £3.49 each) - and bang one of these at each corner of your group/row of plants. It's up you then, whether you want to drill holes in the wood and feed some wire between these 'posts', or whether you use garden twine - either way, you can make the holes as far or close apart as you wish - either way it'll support your flowers without 'invading' them with more sticks than flowers!

You could - if you've a mind - paint these corner supports green to 'hide' them in the foliage. Oh, and a BTW, I may have suggested softwood, but unless you want a permanent support as Ziggy clearly does, softwood will happily remain in the ground for at least 3-4 years without rotting - mine have been there 5 years and are still as sound as ever.

 

I've got 5 sunflowers in a row.
I have to say, they did stand up to the 60mph gusts we had.
However, they do look a bit crooked. I was thinking of getting some twine and tying them to my fence. Would this do the trick or would this restrict their growth?

 

This year the sunflowers are sharing a bed with some tomato plants on a south facing wall. I ran some baling twine along the wall and tied canes to the twine for the plants to grow up. The only thing is the sunflowers are growing so fast now, I have to move the ties up the plant every day or so to stop the top of the stems from breaking. I use the flat green garden wire to tie them up so I can easily remove/move it.

 

Fidgitsmum thanks that's a great idea!