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.
OO! these look so nice...maybe I could get the terrible privet on our property line hedged/tamed/restrained a bit...
Posted by: Katie D | April 25, 2012 at 07:48 AM
We're currently at war with scotch broom. We even got goats. Seriously, we brought in FARM ANIMALS because of one invasive weed. What we've found is that the goats can take care of the tiny scotch broom, but the biggies, must be chopped up before Hermes, Gwen, and Costello will eat them.....which brings me to loppers. The scotch broom did more eating of our past loppers than the other way around. It's time for a new contender.
Posted by: Eileen | April 25, 2012 at 07:56 AM
Bamboozled, am I, afflicted by the bane of BBB - Bamboo Behaving Badly. Please help me stop this seditious sedge from turning my tilth into filth.
Posted by: Mark | April 25, 2012 at 08:20 AM
How very timely - the lilacs are out of control and to top it off - last nite a huge arborvitae split one of its main trunks at the base and is now laying across the back yard - maybe not so timely. I'm going to have to use the old lopper today!
Posted by: cpeterson | April 25, 2012 at 08:25 AM
I have a jungle of privet, honeysuckle, multiflora rose, doghobble and wild grapes that has already defeated one set of loppers (the wooden handle snapped clean off. I still have them, thinking that someday I will replace that handle. Yeah, right!) I'd love to have a pair of Fiskars to try to keep the jungle from completely taking over the property
Posted by: Susan | April 25, 2012 at 08:27 AM
Autumn olive.
I have autumn olive.
I have LOTS of autumn olive.
My very sad little secateurs can only do so much, which means that my driveway is lined with stumps covered in shiny suckers. I hack those back every few months and compost the branches, but it's very hard on the shears.
Also, there's a pin oak. I don't want to talk about the pin oak.
Posted by: UrsulaV | April 25, 2012 at 09:03 AM
We'd share this wonderful tool.
Posted by: Denise | April 25, 2012 at 09:09 AM
When I moved into my house about two years ago, it was in a sorry, sorry state. The backyard was filled with blackberry vines and chicken wire, and I hate to say, I may have used my pruners to cut through chicken wire. It worked! But they're not exactly in good shape anymore...! Would love some new ones!
Posted by: kara | April 25, 2012 at 09:10 AM
Fire blight has laid my Macintosh tree low, but hasn't stopped a shrubby mass of suckers from growing around the stump. Took most of the tree down with loppers and let a neighbor buzzsaw the rest. My best producer, too. I'm hoping that the Granny Smith, Jonathan and Black Twig trees will make up for the loss. Got in some good pruning at the right time this year.
Next: the twenty-foot lilac.
Posted by: Fred | April 25, 2012 at 09:17 AM
Would love a pair to keep my honeysuckle back. It turns my fenceline into a jungle!
Posted by: Justine V. | April 25, 2012 at 09:18 AM
Lost my job. Therapist prescribed pruning! Need to get going asap!
Posted by: Denise | April 25, 2012 at 09:24 AM
Leaping loppers!
Posted by: Teresa Nowicki | April 25, 2012 at 09:32 AM
We need a proper pruning tool. Last year we broke a perfectly good set of jumper cables because we were trying to use them to pull out some of the invasive species. (Yeah, I get it that jumper cables aren't really garden tools.)
Posted by: Craftycristy.blogspot.com | April 25, 2012 at 09:43 AM
I need a new pair to replace my worn down pair. It saw too many years of Boy Scout Eagle projects, removing invasive buckthorn and honeysuckle.
Posted by: Chris N | April 25, 2012 at 09:45 AM
I really need new tools! I think I am doing a lot of damage to the plants when I have to saw and bend because my pruners are terrible!
Posted by: kristin | April 25, 2012 at 09:46 AM
I'd love a pair because I don't have any. ;) That's all.
Posted by: DJK | April 25, 2012 at 09:51 AM
The last two years have been all about a fireblight infestation in my orchard. I wish I could do some aesthetic pruning for once.
Posted by: Ayse | April 25, 2012 at 09:51 AM
Pruning sob story ? The genius who owned our rental property before us planted photinia and oleander all over the place. Then he proceeded to prune it poorly and erratically. We are trying to keep it since taking it all out would likely require nuclear weapons. But reclaiming poorly pruned hedges takes time ... and really good tools. Please ?
If that's not enough, I'm also trying to keep the neighbors privacy shrubbery from encroaching on our home orchard. It's a weekly task that becomes daily this time of year.
Posted by: Laura Bell | April 25, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Ah, loppers! My mother's gift to my first yard was a pair of loppers. Oh, the lopping they have done over the years and yards. Lop, lop, lop, how I have loved to lop. But now those original loppers are demanding retirement. I need a replacement so I can continue to lop, lop, lop.
Posted by: Cherry Lane | April 25, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Ugh - I need a new pair of pruners desperately!!! I whacked out my elbow using my old ones while Spring-pruning my hibiscus. Now I am having difficulties hauling around the bags of mulch. What a vicious circle - my elbow hurts from cutting back the bush because it grew so big in part thanks to the mulch - now I can hardly carry the mulch for this year. Ach - the travails of a very ardent gardener!
Posted by: Rachel Daratany | April 25, 2012 at 10:52 AM
I don't own any loppers yet!
Posted by: Heather | April 25, 2012 at 11:19 AM
These look great! The overgrown bast in the corner of my lawn would hate to see them coming.
Posted by: Robyn R. | April 25, 2012 at 11:23 AM
I've been wanting loppers for a long time. My Grandpa gave me all of his garden tools except his loppers and I still haven't gone out and bought any. (It's really cool to be able to use his tools in my own yard - there's something special about it.)
I've had to make due with my saw and pruners (when I can get away with it). I would love a pair of these awesome Fiskars loppers!
Posted by: Gordon Matassa | April 25, 2012 at 11:33 AM
If you were to pick me,
I could prune my cherry tree.
If you were to pass me by,
I might have to cry.
I need those loppers in my hand,
Boy, my garden would be grand!
Posted by: Barbara Novak | April 25, 2012 at 12:56 PM
If I had new lobbers I would lob my old ones to someone that has none. You didn't think I would give away the Fiskars, did you?
Posted by: Gary | April 25, 2012 at 01:20 PM