best time to stake

[Cinderella]

When is the best time to stake a spike? For example, I have a Ctna. with one bud. The bud is right up in the leaf and I can't really move it away much even if I stake it. My fear is if I leave it where it is, the leaf is so close to the bud that when the flower opens, it won't open fully. What do others do with this, a relatively short inflorescence with the bud so close to the leaf?

[LJA]

On those, it's going to be pretty hard to stake just the spike since they're usually pretty short. The best you can do is stake and tie the entire growth up near the top just below the leaf so that when the bud opens, it won't weigh down the entire pb. Sometimes the leaf will get in the way of the flower opening to its fullest extent, but there isn't much you can do about that.