I have not been that great at staking either, but being I am blessed (cursed) with a chain link fence it certainly helps reduce the staking, but I still had lots of them just plop over, I am trying to do better. It really makes the garden look so much better to keep the plants staked. Also I have been using more small wire cages, the plants do a pretty good job of hiding them, Yarrow particularly has done well in the cages, as has Columbine. I also have some tall (not my favorite) Unwin's Dwarf Dahlias that have done well in cages, why these are called Dwarf I don't know, they get as tall as my head. Not all of them but some, I do have others that I like much more that stay short, but with the seed you never know what they will turn out to be, just a mixture.
For some reason, maybe because of all the rain, the Glad's stalks have been extra tall and skinny this year, and tend to want to fall over more.
That idea of planting bulbs in a basket is neat, I'll bet Tulips and other early spring bulbs could be done like that also down here. Then you could just dig up the basket and store them in a refrigerator, if you had the room.
