This study deals with aquatic canopies and their interaction with an openchannel flow. It focuses on individual and collective plant motion in a staggered, submerged, flexible canopy. The study is based on experiments performed within a 2 m long canopy composed of 330 flexible blades. The individual motion of four blades, marked with fluorescent spots, is monitored with a video camera. A series of experiments are performed at 13 different values of the Cauchy number (between 1 and 200). Four canopy motion patterns are present in a non-aligned flexible canopy: Rigid (blades do not move), Swaying (blades bend back and forth not forming an organized pattern), Monami (blades are significantly deflected and a coherent waving motion is observed), and Prone (blades bend over, permanently). Comparison with a previous study of aligned canopy motion shows that the Cauchy number is a key parameter to delimit these four regimes.