What rose tools do I need?

Surprisingly few, luckily.

Most work in the rose garden is done up close

You don’t need a big assortment of specialized tools to maintain a rose garden. Just comfortable ones.

A few hand tools, a couple of stick tools, 1 bucket, your floppy hat – and BOOM, you’re a rose gardener.

1. A good set of hand pruners

Most Rosarians prefer standard pruners like Felco, and use the by-pass style rather than the anvil style.

Dull anvil pruners will mash the cane. Not good. [Ratchet pruners are not the same action as anvil style.]

Again Ironwood & Barnel make good choices, but the industry standard is still the expensive Swiss Felco brand.

They are so popular that you can often find them displayed in the small store of the many gardens you visit.

When you start your rose gardening adventure, the simple metal by-pass pruners from Home Depot are on the right budget. Just pace yourself. It’s easy to end up with an aching hand after only 3 hours of trimming and deadheading.

That’s how I discovered ratchet pruners. Before the surgery.

I now use Ironwood Tool’s straight blade ratchet pruners or the ones from Barnel daily. They’re both made of aircraft aluminum, not plastic, and the blades are medium steel, so they hold a sharpened edge from my diamond file.

If you can fit your branch into the jaws , you can cut it. Period.

The straight blade pruner shown above features an ingenious ratcheting mechanism for easy cutting, and the extra narrow handle spread makes it ideal for individuals like me with smaller hands. With its 8-inch straight steel blade, you can cut up to a 1 inch branch.

Ratchet pruners are not the same action as anvil style

The ratchet mechanism takes some time to learn, but it’s a huge asset for your hand strength and endurance.

I can now work 10 hours on & off, after hand surgery with these, and not be out of commission for the next day or two. SWEET!

This style won’t munch the stem when you cut in spite of what you might hear.

That’s important since it’s the first place for disease to start – and you’ll be trimming a lot if you volunteer in community gardens as you learn more about roses.

2. A stout lopper

I use 2 sizes of ratchet loppers from Ironwood Tools – large or extra large. They’re made of aircraft aluminum, not steel, but the blades are medium steel so they hold an edge well during a tough day, but I can sharpen them on-the-fly with their diamond file.

Expanding handle ratchet lopper from Ironwood tools

Extra large extending ratchet loppers with extending handles

Since these do a lot of the heavy cutting up to 3 inches, keeping them sharp just reduces the work for the tool – and you. These will cut any green limb you can fit in the jaws.

When cutting limbs for my show work or other demonstrations, this is the tool I start with. I have some tricks to let me use them on a 4″ branch too, but they have to be sharp with the branch not too far overhead.

Notice the dual self-oiler bolts in the picture below. That almost eliminates stickiness during work.

These loppers can be delivered directly from Ironwood Tools.com.

Large ratchet loppers with stationary handles

The ratchet mechanism takes some time to learn, but it’s a huge asset for strength and jaw capacity. I can cut down 2 inch tree limbs with these & then clean up after they’re brought down.

#3 is a folding saw

Find a curved & aggressive bladed saw that locks open and folds down closed.

It should feel good in your hand during use too. That’s important, since you’ll be gripping it hard with gloves and working in some awkward positions.

Ironwood Tools IW5210 curved folding saw

Shown is my Ironwood one that is still as sharp as h*#l. If your loppers don’t get it done, this should . . .

#4 is a rake & a shovel

Your basic metal rake / shovel with a sturdy handle. I prefer metal heads with fiberglass handles and I expect them to last for years. Lots of choices, so lots of prices.

But the one shown here is another Ironwood product that has a sliding clamp on the handle that controls the spread of the tines. Perfect for getting in between rose plants for leaves or spreading fertilizer. It’s even strong enough to turn upside down and spread bark throughout the plants.

Yes, that means it’s expandable. Made of steel with cadmium plating.

At many garden shows, you might find this mighty expanding rake, which is handy for many tasks like filtering mulch and getting in between tight bushes.

At Ironwood Tools, I sold an average of a hundred of these at a show, & rarely had any returned.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, I even sold a case of 12 to a group of native Inuit dog sledders. Never thought I’d say that in public . .

5. The big bucket

A plastic horse feed bucket with a handle works well. Just pick something light that will last for 1 year or more.

“Start small, thinking about the 3 year tools. Then find out what makes sense for you & the size of your garden.”
Chris McGregor from Ironwood Tools

Many of these needs can be easily found at the nearby garden supply or home improvement center. But it’s more fun to have them delivered to your garden gate. They’ll make great presents for your gardening besties too . . .

These 3 tools are keepers, too

Steel soil scoop

Diamond blade sharpener

Ironwood Tools IW1401 ratchet pruner for small hands

Plastic ratchet pruners

These little pruners work well with small hands but do a lot of work – especially deadheading roses.

They’re good ‘starter pruners’, and good to have to get kids involved in the garden. I carry these as an extra set for visitors when I deadhead in community gardens.

Later on – after you fall in love with rose gardening, you can invest in better hand tools.

The best deals with hands-on testing are at your regional Home & Garden Show now that they’ve started back up after the worst parts of the virus scare.

You can get all three quickly at Ironwood Tools .

Combine a few tools together as a package and save on shipping. That’s often possible with Amazon online too.

The booth pictures here are before / after a typical day at a busy Home & Garden Show in the U.S. My booth always had a cutting bench for visitors to try the tools. And we were always busy. Ciscoe Morris from a local TV gardening show would stop by between his show lectures in Seattle, and we would catch up a little. He’s quite a ham. I’m glad he’s enjoying retirement & travelling now . .

Yes, I’ve sold them, demonstrated them, and used them for years, & I trust these tools from Ironwood Tools or Barnel Industries. They are both often at major city flower and garden shows in the US. Barnel is handled through dealers worldwide for commercial and institutional users, while Ironwood in national in the U.S..

Here’s my traveling 2019-20 tool list -> (They all fit in my backpack if I’m on my bike or motorcycle . . )