I'm happy to buy a support if it's a good sturdy one that I can leave in the ground year-round and which will look nice, like the Essex -- just not sure if it'll work for Russian sage.
Photo 1 is the flopped-over, with most of the pretty soon-to-be-purple spires on the ground, photo 2 is after staking, a definite improvement, though the spires are now kind of soggy / floppy -- I'm hoping some time in the sunshine will straighten them out, photo 3 is just me enjoying the sunlight on the sage flowers with the neighbor's lit grass behind it.
There is one person in my neighborhood who buys outdoor ribbon (not as soft as real ribbon, but not flopply like plastic) and then uses it to tie plants together with a big bow. Or sometimes they just staple the ends together.
They used to have some really wide ribbon they used on a rose for a couple years. Now it is totally in a perfectly symmeterical spray in all directions (and about head high). Totally gorgeous.