Sprawling mess or helping hand?

IENJOYED John Hoyland’s ‘Dyeing to help’ (In the garden, April 27). Of the sacred three, madder, woad and weld, only madder has survived in my garden. However, it acts as an excellent plant support with its sticky ‘sprawling mess’, as it can be wound around neighbouring plants, supporting these against the Scottish summer winds. It then disappears in the autumn and re-emerges the following spring.

Margaret Campbell, Edinburgh