Flowerbed Cutting Tools

Shears

• There are several types of garden shears, each having a particular use in your flowerbed. More delicate snip type shears are good for deadheading thin stemmed flowers and snipping out wilting small flowers that grow in clusters. More heavy duty garden shears may have specialized blades for woody branch,-type flowering plants or scissor-blade shears for general stem cutting.

Pruners

• Hand pruners are used for trimming and shaping flowering plants. Perennial flowers usually require some pruning to shape the plant after a few years growth. Outer stems must be trimmed shorter for a clean appearance and to open the plant for air circulation, while dead or dying branches and stems should be pruned off as soon as they are detected. Hedge pruners are effective tools when you need to cut and trim dense flowering plants with small stems, like alyssum and lobelia.

Japanese Gardener's Knife

• A Japanese gardener's knife, or hori-hori knife, is a handy tool for flower gardening. The knife is available in several sizes and lengths with a curved wide blade that is straight edged on one side and serrated on the other. The knife has multiple uses, as a digging trowel for planting bulbs and small plants, or use the sharp knife for cutting stems and to cut root balls when dividing perennial plants.

Fingers

• Sometimes the best cutting tool for deadheading flowers and trimming leaves from plants is right at the end of your arm. Small flowers and very delicate stems like violets or asters are cut off easier when you use your thumb and index finger to pinch the flower off the plant. Many plants, such as fuchsias and petunias, grow fuller, bushier and have more flowers when you use your fingers to pinch off the stem tips of the plant.