Why are the plants leaning like that? (Photos)

[kumquattish]

We have inherited a mature garden, but I've noticed this month that quite a few of the plants are leaning away from the fence towards the centre of the garden. See photos - I've marked with arrows the direction of leaning. The leaning exposes the base/woody parts of the plants, which are unsightly. The leaning is also worrying me - are the plants still healthy? Should I be trimming them or doing something to encourage leaning back?

Help!

Are they leaning towards the sunlight?
It’s difficult for me to see in the photos.

To get more sunlight probably

Yep plants that are now growing under increasingly mature planting are just looking for the sun.

It's very common for plants to lean away from the shade of a fence. What you need is lots of plant supports, the half-hoop type ones are good for shoving in if the plants have already started leaning.

Thanks for your replies. I don't think it's to do with sunlight though. The taller plants don't hang over them. Can there be another reason?

If it is indeed sunlight, am I better off letting them get on with it, or should I trim the taller plants?

This sort of hoop thing?

The thing is, I like the plants leaning into the grassy part. I just want them to grow on the other side too! Is that not possible?

Yes, those are the things, but if you like them leaning over the grass that's fine.

It almost certainly will be down to the light. In your second photo, your arrow starts at a dark spot and the tip is in the light.

Those are hardy geraniums, they are quite lax plants and will generally flop a bit when they get to the flowering stage. I chop mine off to just above ground level whe the flowers are nearly finished or if they get too scruffy, they look a bit bare for a week but then you get a new neat mound of foliage and sometimes a second flush of flowers. They should be cut back to the base in the autumn as they are perennials that die back every winter and regrow in the spring. I dont bother with staking things unless they are very tall and heavy.

You coukd substitute for a variety that is lower growing and more shade terletak like Geranium Maccrorhizum

Thank you @Wbeezer I'm very new to this, and last autumn we didn't do any pruning as we'd just moved in. I can see lots of old crispy long leaves on top of the earth, which might be last year's growth. I'll prune to above ground level this autumn and clear away the old leaves, and hopefully it'll be neater!

Thank you everyone I should have said! 🌸

It should be a bit less straggly if you do that. Good idea to scatter some fertiliser pellets about to give them a boost, the ground under shrubs can be a lacking. If you can top dress around tge plants with fresh compost a street cutting then back, good for the soil and looks neat tidy.

You can probably pull the old dead leaves out from underneath if you want