An epic moment spawned one warm morning as I opened a box and extracted a 20-volt cordless hedge trimmer. Not quite as heartwarming as Ralphie ripping into the Red Ryder BB gun box in “A Christmas Story,” but you get the idea.
My friends, you may be wondering how a hedge trimmer with a 22-inch, dual-action cutting blade stirs passion. Then again, perhaps you have experienced the proverb, “Time leads truth to light.”
As I two-handed the trimmer over a shaggy hedge, there was a blast of clarity, followed by the what-took-you-so-long lament. I realized The Stubborn Gardener had embraced truth and danced with reality.
It was time to wield tools that make gardening easier.
Stubbornly insisting how classic hand tools do the job better, I long rationalized the added exercise was worth the exhaustion and pain. Loppers and hand pruners were my tools.
The fog lifted when it was time to prune a hedge of Chinese fringe flower. Dreading the chore began as a trickle. It evolved into chronic procrastination over the years.
My Chinese fringe flower hedge began as two small perennial shrubs purchased at long-gone Windmill Nursery in Carmichael. Soon, the two plants merged into a hedge. Pruning to keep it at window level was constant and arduous.
After a few years, the hedge spanned four windows. It grew faster than the national debt.
An attractive shrub with burgundy leaves and pink flowers, Chinese fringe flower has become common in Sacramento gardens. A doctor I know has one in his backyard, 12 to 15 feet tall, serving as a privacy screen.
Before accepting “cutting hedge” technology, I mostly used a hand tool, my beloved Felco No. 8 hand pruners. I attached the leather holster to my belt, shoved the pruners home and embarked on mornings of meticulous hand pruning.
It was satisfying but time-consuming. My hands and back eventually protested the repetitive handle squeezing and bending and stretching.
A gardening friend made me aware of a small battery-powered hand pruner two years ago. I bought one and used it for small jobs on mums and lavender.
One hand guided the whirring blade over plants with minimal effort and decent results. But hedges, large clumps of ornamental grasses and massive perennials were too much for the little guy.
Chinese fringe flower wasn’t the only grow-fast plant that needed regular attention in my garden. “Hot Lips” salvia is a prolific grower in demand of regular grooming, along with rosemary, a ninebark, an elderberry, several lavenders and others.
Once, when the Chinese fringe flower hedge had outgrown my inadequate tools, I paid my neighbor’s gardener to slice it into manageable dimensions. Wielding a massive, scary-looking hedge trimmer, he quickly sculpted it like a green-thumbed Rodin.
When the hedge needed another haircut and my festering dread had peaked, I asked my son if I could borrow his electric hedge trimmer. Sadly, he had left it outside in the elements. He said, “It doesn’t really work anymore.”
That was the final push to action.
My new 20-volt trimmer is a toy for professional landscaping teams, but ideal for most home gardeners. It has just enough charge and power to complete most yard projects.
The hedge trimmer allegedly will cleave a 3/4-inch branch. Proving that claim seems unnecessary. If needed, I will invest in a small chainsaw or hire somebody to take on jobs that I’m no longer willing or able to accomplish.
I now consider all paths that lead to Easyville.
Almost all paths. Parting with my Craftsman reel push mower is a firm no for now. But I am open to suggestions on other tools that make gardening easier. My power tools and The Former Stubborn Gardener are all charged up.
Dan Vierria is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener for Sacramento County. He can be reached at masterg29@gmail.com. For answers to gardening questions, contact UCCE Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338, email mgsacramento@ucanr.edu or visit sacmg.ucanr.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
