Rose Gardening Tools
Good rose gardening tools will make looking after your roses much easier - and if done properly, good pruning and maintenance will keep your plants much healthier.
So what tools are needed for care of your roses?
Pruning Shears
Pruning shears are used to remove branches from rose bushes to give it a good overall, appealing shape, to allow free movement of air through the bush which helps prevent disease formation and to cut out dead, damaged or diseased branches. They will be the most frequently used of your rose gardening tools.
There are long-handled pruning shears and these can be useful in some situations. My experience is that if the branch is far enough into the center of the rose, then using a lopping shears is more effective than using a long-handled hand pruning shear.
Lopping shears
Are just big pruning shears but for cutting larger branches. You aren't going to tackle a big old-fashioned rose with a pair of hand pruners. :-)
Lopping shears are available with telescopic handles that extend to give you more leverage for those real tough branches.
I have both the telescoping and non-extending and I find myself reaching for the telescoping almost every time. Just extend the handles to their full length and you have more than enough leverage to cut cleanly through the toughest of branches - BUT - it's a big but, if this tool can't handle the branch, then a pruning saw (or chainsaw) is your best bet. And yes, I've run into this on some of the bigger, older shrub roses.
Sprayers
I use mine for applying insecticides and pesticides to my rose bushes (while I don't spray often and only use organic materials - I do own sprayers as they're an essential item in a gardener's gardening tool set. They are available as small hand held sprayers through to large back pack types but unless you're running a nursery, the smaller ones will do fine.
(A little known secret is that many sprays should be used right away - let them sit and they lose their effectiveness) Another advantage of the smaller sprayer is that the big ones can get very heavy (water weighs approximately 10 pounds/gallon) so hauling a 2-3 gallon sprayer around when you only need enough to spray a few plants doesn't make sense.
Gloves as Secret Rose Gardening Tools
Now these are essential when working with roses to avoid puncture wounds. And my secret weapon is a pair of beekeeper gloves that go up almost to my elbows and that are heavy fabric designed to prevent bee stings.
Avoid the cheap cotton gloves as these will give you very little protection against rose bush thorns.
Is That All?
Well, you can add shovels, rakes and all the other "stuff" you use for planting, etc but for the most part - the tools listed here will take care of 95% of your rose growing needs.
Click here to ask about rose gardening tools
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