Have you ever wanted a different centerpiece for your table – something beyond that beautiful bouquet of flowers from your garden? Something that would take your container gardening in a whole new direction: upward? Then it might be time to consider a tabletop standard.
Imagine a lovely home-trained myrtle standard taking center stage on your patio table this season.
Photo Credit: T. Lee Stephens
Select a plant with strong vertical growth, like a zonal geranium. Then grab some raffia, a small bamboo stake and a sharp pair of scissors so you can start staking.
Photo Credit: T. Lee Stephens
Place the bamboo stake next to the plant stem. (Make sure the stake goes all the way to the bottom of the container.)
Photo Credit: T. Lee Stephens
Attach the plant to the stake using raffia (or other soft material). Tie the plant loosely to the stake and place the knot on the bamboo stake, not on the plant stem. Pinch off the top growth and remove the lower leaves to create the standard form.
Photo Credit: T. Lee Stephens
Place your plant where it will get the appropriate light, and continue to encourage it to grow into the standard form by “pruning” leaves as needed.
Photo Credit: T. Lee Stephens
You’ve likely seen their larger cousins, the tree-type standards. Tabletop standards, as you can guess, are simply smaller. Just choose the right plant material, potting soil and container, and it’s easy to get started.
Choosing the right material is very important to the success of your tabletop standard. Small-leaved ivy or scented geraniums (Pelargonium) are possibly the easiest to grow and train. They tolerate low-light conditions and are forgiving if you forget to water a day or two. Just be sure to select a plant with strong vertical growth.
For this particular project, I used a zonal geranium. I started by taking a cutting from another plant (but you can buy a new one at your garden center). When my cutting reached about 3 months old and had rooted and put on some strong growth, I moved it to a windowsill that received a balance of sun and shade, so that the geranium would quickly grow vertically without much branching. This worked in my favor to produce the height needed for my standard. Once the plant reached 12 inches tall from the bottom of its growing container, I transplanted it into its tabletop container and prepared to begin training it into a standard form.
Of course, the container you choose is a matter of personal preference, depending greatly on where the standard will be placed in your home. Still, it’s important to keep three things in mind when picking your container:
- The container shouldn’t overpower the planting – that is, don’t place a small plant in a massive container.
- The container should have adequate drainage – place crushed stone or broken terra-cotta shards in the bottom.
- A glazed catch basin under the container prevents water from damaging the surface of your furniture.
Since you’re growing a plant upward, staking your standard is a must for support. While some nurseries sell standard plants like roses and fuchsias with bamboo stakes, that’s only a temporary support, and the wood usually gives out in just a season. For our tabletop standard, however, it’s fine to use a thin bamboo or metal stake. (You can get a way with using bamboo in a tabletop standard because it’s quite easy to replace should it rot, whereas replacing the stake with a large 5- to 8-foot-tall standard can be challenging.) Finally, remember this rule: “Don’t allow the stake to overpower the standard.” In other words, make sure the stake isn’t too big for the plant. (You don’t want it toppling over!)
Once you’ve got your plant, selected the container (with catch basin) and found the right stake, you can begin training:
Insert the stake as close to the plant stem as possible, making sure the stake reaches the bottom of the container and the top of the plant. (Don’t allow the stake to extend beyond the tip of your plant when it reaches maturity.) Tie the plant loosely to the stake with raffia or old panty hose for proper support, placing the knot side on the stake.
Pinch out the growing point on top of your standard. (The growing point of a plant is located at the very top of the stem. This is where the new growth of the plant occurs. By pinching, clipping or pruning out this growing point, all vertical growth of the stem will stop.) This starts the formation of a mass of vegetation at the top of the plant. Then remove the bottom one-third of the leaves to start exposing the plant’s stem.
Set your living tabletop art out where it will get the appropriate light it needs, and don’t forget to fertilize on a regular basis, according to your plant’s needs and following all label instructions. As it grows, you’ll need to “prune” your plant to help it take its shape. It shouldn’t take more than a few months for your tabletop standard to really start looking impressive.
Once you’ve got your standard up and growing, begin to experiment with other plants you might want to train. Use them inside or out to decorate your tables and patios, or give them as hostess gifts. Although they’re called standards because of their form, you’re sure to soon find there really isn’t anything “standard” about these tabletop treasures at all!
