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01242 234 929Hedge shears are a gardener’s best friend...
What are hedge shears?
Hedge shears look a lot like giant scissors with their long pair of straight blades. Their design lends itself to cutting as much of a plant as possible in one single sweep. When you use hedge shears to trim your bushes, they will create long sharp edges on anything you cut. This makes them perfect for maintaining rectangular-shaped hedges.
However, hedge shears are not great at shaping bushes and plants with strong wooden branches. Since hedge shears are better suited for cutting softer stems, attempting to use them on harder types of wood will result in damage to the blades. It will also yield imperfect cuts on the plant.
Hedge shears can be somewhat limited by what they can cut, working mainly on soft, non-woody stems. You should not underestimate how useful they are though. As hedge shears can cut plants so quickly, they are one of the main tools that every budding gardener should own.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at three uses for hedge shears in your garden!
1 - Maintaining a straight-edged hedge
Hedge shears are perfect for maintaining straight-edged hedges.
As previously mentioned, hedge shears are great for cutting long, straight lines. Their design makes them ideal for trimming geometric designs and straight lines to create “boxy” shapes.
If you want to prune your hedging and prefer long, artificial designs, hedge shears are great for the job. As these large plant scissors can cut long straight lines in one single motion, a professional gardener shaping a bush will be done in no time at all.
However, if you prefer more rounded, natural-looking hedges, you should avoid using hedge shears. It will be near impossible to achieve a rounded finish with these long, straight blades.
Read this article for more information on how to trim hedges with hedge shears.
2 - Cutting back perennials
Hedge shears can also be used to cut back perennials.
Perennials have a long life span and can grow indefinitely, expanding their territory over a few months. Overgrown perennial plants can look messy and cover other slow-growing plants nearby, blocking their sunlight. Hedge shears can help you effectively manage their growth by trimming them regularly throughout the year. This ensures that they look tidy and allows your delicate plants to compete for sunlight.
Shears are most effective at cutting soft plants like catmint and lilyturf, and this requires almost no effort to do. Even though shears are imprecise, you don’t have to worry too much about being complete precision when trimming your perennial plants. These plants will soon grow back and cover up any unnatural cuts you’ve made, making your garden look great again.
3 - Other general hedge shear uses
With a considerable cutting power created by the sizeable blades, hedge shears can chop away at most soft stem plants. If accuracy is important, you may have to take some time, but if you just need to get rid of excess growth, the job can be done in minutes.
Hedge shears are great at cutting most plants in your garden, so use them to keep your greenery in check. For the harder-to-reach stems hidden in big bushes, the long blades on the shears will ensure you can cut pesky plants with ease.
Advice on Hedge Trimming and Garden Maintenance
Looking for more advice on uses for hedge shears, or for a professional gardener in Cheltenham or the Gloucestershire area to help keep your garden looking great?
At George-Stone Gardens, we pride ourselves on designing, building and maintaining our customers’ dream gardens. We are always happy to talk through your requirements to give you guidance with any aspect of gardening work you may need.
Get in touch with us and we'll be happy to help.
