I don't grow these, but I believe they are a one flush grower such as peonies are and an early hard pruning would somewhat deplete their resources and leave them absent for the entire season. I'd just go in there and drive a few discreet stakes in the ground and do my best to tie them up with some garden twine. Reminds me, I really should stake up my delphinium 'Highlander Bolero' before a storm might come along and topple it, it's gonna be absolutely stunning here soon!

Yep, would agree with frozebudd - either poke some peasticks or woody prunings in the ground, or some canes and wind a skein of garden twine between the support canes, It is a bit fiddly but worth doing, especially if other plants have an unwanted duvet of baptisia leaf.

I don't think it will make the tiniest difference, cutting off the seed heads -the seedheads do not have much weight or substance and are part of the overall charm, after blooming is over. The stems will not lift themselves back to a vertical position without some additional support from you.

Baptisia is one of those plants that (should) get peony rings in my garden. Since this doesn't actually happen, I like propping things back up with linking stakes. They are less fussy than trying to weave twine through a plant and slowly bring it back up.

I had a few plants get knocked over from the high winds and storm that blew through, too.

I usually cut the seedpods off baptisia -- I don't like how they look. Pretty quick job. If the stems of the plant got weakened or damaged, though, removing teh seedpods probably isn't really going to help. You've got to support it somehow. They sell half-hoops that hook together -- something like that would work well, as would the linking stakes mentioned above. Or, take the cheap route and use twine and sturdy sticks or whatever plant stakes you already have lying around. Baptisia isn't a tall, heavy plant so it shouldn't take too much effort to support it.

Rosaprimula, I live in the thick of a forest and often use peasticks gathered from the hazelnuts, but especially the chokecherry and amelanchier bushes as these are very durable and rot resistant. I just went to stake up that delphinium, it's glorious loaded in bud and side branching, but I could not push the dang sticks into the ground, it's hot and I'm feeling a bit miserable tired, so I grabbed some medal pickets and pounded those in, snapping off a bit too much delphinium foliage as I went, job accomplished though!

Thanks, everyone. Multiple stakes is something I didn't think of--I will try that!

When the seed pods are still green and full sized they are quite heavy. I cage mine only because I like the pods. I did not get a chance to expand the cage and some stems were growing outside of it and covering surrounding plants Just yesterday I cut off the pods 3/4 of the way around it and they bounced back.

O Frozebudd...I never, ever attempt to poke anything in the ground without making some sort of slit or pilot hole (a crocus auger is great for that sort of thing). I learned my lesson in a very brutal accident involving a slightly brittle bamboo cane and a dahlia bed. I was leaning all my weight on the cane when the whole thing shattered. Because of (not wanting to crush) the dahlias, I managed to hurl myself sideways...but not before I stabbed the cane into my right breast (there is a circular scar to this day) and worse, I landed up against the breeze-block coldframe, knocking out my 2 front teeth in the process. As I lay there, bleeding and shocked, wondering why I was not unconscious, waking up to the loving care of...someone, anyone, I had to settle for the anxious sheepdog, doing her best to stem the blood. Staggered home in shock - I was at the allotment)...beginning the long slow process towards a dental plate.

I have posted this tale of woe on here before.

Good God….

or not so good

my stomach is turned

OMGosh Rosaprimula, that's a heck of a shocking image, so sorry for your mishap, just how very quickly a garden chore had gone so unimaginably wrong! Yes, it's something that has crossed my mind when bearing weight down upon a stake, but mostly I'm pushing into soft soil or with a something sturdy enough it can pounded in. Yesterday, I did attempt a pilot hole, but again I was just too miserable pooped that I just grabbed the metal stakes and banged them in with a block of wood.

I've had the same concern. I always shift my body so I'm not above it. Scary, rosa, scary.

Ooooooo…wee boy. And some people thing gardening is a risk-less hobby. HA! Wow, rosa, that sounded really really really painful.

I vividly recall the cane splitting episode with a shudder. You were lucky the rose cane missed your eye! Oh yes I have regularly drawn blood often unknown to me probably because the mild cuts & scrapes are no big deal. My worst was definitely an artery I cut between my thumb and forefinger. I was trying to get the dowel piece in to join two edgings together with a paring knife. Blood was spurting 6 ft. Lucky for me a hand specialist surgeon was at the hospital and was between patients. I was also lucky not to have nerve damage. I had to keep my hand above my heart for 10 days and was only allowed to get up to use the washroom. The garden can be a battle ground and I lost that one lol!