Fiskars Wants To Give You Stuff, and Who Are We To Stop Them?

Do you remember last year when we reviewed some Fiskars tools and gave a few away?  Remember those PowerGear Loppers?   I wrote about them here, and Gen wrote about them at North Coast Gardening.  Now that I've had a pair for a year or so, I can tell you that they are quite sturdy and very useful--they're big enough to be able to whack back anything in my garden, but they're also surprisingly light and easy to carry around.  Good stuff.

Well, Fiskars just wants you to have more tools.  So they asked us if we'd give another pair away.  Uh--yeah!  Sure, why not?

Here's the video we did last year if you want to know exactly how these things work.  To win, just post a comment with any pruning-related tale, or any sob story about why you so desperately need to upgrade your pruning tools. 

Oh--and--Gen's giving away a pair, too, so head over there if you want a little more action.

Comments

[Ange]

I have these terrible "trees" in my yard that people call "Japanese Honeysuckle." They bloom like crazy and then throw seeds all over the place. I find them in my stone walls. I find them in the garden. I find them in the lawn. Everywhere, I find them. And I hunt them down. Because they destroy everything. They rip stones apart from my walls. They set down roots overnight. I would much rather have a blackberry thicket where these are growing, but I have not the tools to get rid of them. Maybe you could write a column on getting rid of these honeysuckle trees. Where I grew up, honeysuckle was a vine, and that had its own problems because it could take down a chain link fence in a year. But these are like the mother of all honeysuckles. Help me!

[Kim]

For someone who enjoys small projects, and cleaning things up, there is something so satisfying about pruning. The last time I had a bush to prune, it was so huge that when I had pruned all I could prune, I had carved a half-tunnel from the side! Sadly, it didn't occur to me to use a ladder to get those harder-to-reach spots.

Thanks for your great blog, ladies!

[CEN]

Desperately need these to contend with the elderly-- and seldom pruned -- shrubs on our new old property. Our old tools took one look at them and left town (or maybe they were in that box that didn't make it on the moving truck).

[Daphne]

I would so love a pair of loppers. Why? I don't own any right now. They got lent out and never returned. Someday I'll have to label all my tools. Then maybe, just maybe they would get back to me.

[Curtis Swartzentruber]

We have no end to things to prune around here, so I would love to try a new design of pruning tools. The ones I have work okay, but they are really heavy and take a decent amount of effort to use for long periods.

[Kathy M.]

Loppers actually have an odd place in my heart. When I think of them, thoughts automatically go to my mom. My mom loves her loppers - always carries them in her vehicle, just in case she's somewhere and purning needs doing. My hubby & I don't even own a pair, which makes pruning more of a chore than it needs to be. Loppers are definitely on my need-to-buy list. (but winning them would be better!)

[Margaret Wilkie]

My current loppers have a chunk out of one side and I have to be careful where on the cutting edge I put them on the cuttee. I am guessing untempered steel was used. Does fiskars use the real thing? I'm guessing they do since I still use the several pairs of fiskars scissors I got for my children all over the house and garden and for sewing.

[Matt]

[A haiku entry]

Yard is overgrown.
Oh, the perfect pruning tool.
I fear summer growth.

[Jeane]

I don't have any good pruning tools- some old clippers that were left in the shed we inherited with the house- that's about it. And lots of shrubs that need taming. And rouge maple trees that grew up next to my foundation and I need to cut them to the ground. I'd love to have these!

[Lisa-St. Marys ON]

I have some serious lilac pruning to be done. These look like just the ticket! Gen and Amy look like they are having so much fun with them, that I would fear for anyone using them, they may not know when to stop!

[Jen.]

Oh, pruning! My pruning story is thus: sycamores. They need several upstart branches lopped! Otherwise, they'll fall on our neighbors' heads. See? Pruners can make excellent neighbors.

[Earth Girl]

I bought a pair after last year's review, and now my husband and I fight over this most excellent tool! We have ten acres with a lot of pruning needs, such as corrective pruning of young timber trees, productive pruning of the orchard, and destructive pruning of bush honeysuckle. (I share your honeysuckle pain, Ange, and they contain an alleopathy that prevents anything from growing but garlic mustard.)

[Charlotte Owendyk]

Would love to have one...I have lots of mature shrubs and trees that could use some pruning

[David]

Something very satisfying about pruning and looks like you could go climbing with these and prune to your hearts content.

[Marlene]

I do most of my pruning at ground level, as I wage war against buckthorn, Japanese honeysuckle and multiflora rose.

[Linda Secrist]

I'm aging and have arthritis so I need all the help I can get !PLEASE pick me

[Jessica Sanders]

I've recently started renting a horribly neglected house in a neighborhood that looks like it popped out of a design catalog. According to the neighbors, no one has done the yard work in over ten years. For me, that was one of the selling points, since I can put in a lovely garden of my own design. After two weeks of pruning back the lantana that has taken over the front yard, I have made some lovely discoveries-- three horribly neglected but still living rose bushes. And also a tragic discovery-- my pruning sheers are completely done in, and I've barely started on cleaning up the trees in the backyard. Help!

[Alan @ it's not work, it's gardening!]

I grow lots of different types of bamboo in my suburban garden, and the bigger culms are impossible to cut with hand pruners -- a nice lopper would come in so handy!

The deer help me prune the rest of my shrubs, but they don't really have the eye for it.

A hand-powered pruner of any size is no match for the bush honeysuckle around here though. The trunks are nearly 12" in diameter!

[Terry]

So much pruning needs to be done in my yard. These would be just the ticket. My tools now leave things looking like . . . . well, I'm not sure what it looks like, but it's not good!

[Thad]

Loppers are always useful and you can never have too many pairs!

[TP]

Those look very cool! Will come in very handy for my shrubbery and fruit bush plans ...

[Jill]

These look awesome - would definitely come in handy!

[LauraP]

'Tis the season here, the wild cherries and Osage Orange and wild plums are reaching out to slap at the cars in the driveway, the people on the paths. I wear out a set of loppers almost every year here on this farm, and the current ones are on their last . . . ummm . . . handles?

[Jennefer]

We named our loppers Cindy......but like the real person, they are a little dated. Would love a new pair to keep the yard in shape.

[Autumn]

Since someone else mentioned you can never have too many pairs...I'll throw my hat in! ;)