It’s strange how some garden implements have acquired iconic status – and perhaps inexplicable. When I first started gardening I ‘invested’ in a Hawes watering can – not because that is my husband’s name but because they had such a great reputation. It was expensive, made of metal and ridiculously heavy. And within three years it rusted and leaked.
I gather you can get plastic ones now, which may be more rust resistant….
Undeterred, when I was asked what garden gift I would like I opted for Felco secateurs. That was 25 years ago, and I still use them. But I also still use several mega cheap pairs which seem just as robust. I have certainly never discovered what my Felco ones will do that no others will do just as well.
I suspect there’s a lot of this about because of the image of gardening. Sane, 21st century grownups take up gardening and develop rampant nostalgia and adopt ‘tradition’. And ‘passion’.
*Sigh*