Spotted in Paris and brought back in the bottom of a suitcase, this is an ingenious little problem solver that could be used in a garden or in any outside-on-the-fire escape planting situation where WIND is a big issue.
Voted unanimously for Best Product Award at GLEE 2003. Soft-Tie is made with a soft rubbery compound on the outside, with a tough galvanised steel wire core.
The roll is 5 meters long and you just cut off whatever lengths you want. Available for seven pounds online, through Haxnicks of Wiltshire. MGR
Believe it or not, I use the green electrical wire in the same way. The coating is gentle on the plants and the inner copper wire gives it structure.
If I had larger plants I would absolutely give these a try, though.
Looks good when you need strength and stiffness, but if you don't, women's pantyhose cut into strips works great! I use them for tomato plants and saplings.
I'm not a green thumb, but if I DID have a garden, there's no way I would use women's pantyhose to tie something up (even vegetable garden stuff, where it's just supposed to be functional and not decorative) if something this attractive was around.
I live in the burbs, and my lawn guy has weed-wacked about half of the vines I'm growing on my fence. All my solutions are either UGLY (i.e. metal guards) or impermanent (i.e. bamboo sticks.) This might be just the thing. ...Either that or a new lawn guy.
I'll look at the electrical wire, too, to see if it's strong enough.
Curtis,
A small strip (2"x6") of pantyhose, when tied around a stake and a sapling, just looks like a piece of fabric, only it's stretchy.