Pruning scissors

A decent pair of gardening scissors, like most important tools of a trade, are exceedingly boring. Simple and unassuming, yet an invaluable tool to have at your disposal. Lets jump into what makes them a great tool to have on your gardening belt.

Pruning Kanna

When I started growing Kanna, I would use a scalpel to take cuttings and prune on my plants. I figured, Kanna is soft, scalpels are sharp, this arrangement should do the least amount of damage to my plants! However, single blade instruments like scalpels and knives require you to firmly grip and immobilize floppy plants like Kanna in order to concentrate the force of your blade and get a clean cut. With delicate leaves like kanna’s, you are sure to crush and inadvertently do some damage to your plants. With scissors, the design is concentrating the force of the blades for you. So unless you have dull scissors, you shouldn’t need to immobilize the plant much at all.

choosing a garden shear

A few objectives you’ll meet in choosing a gardening shear for your kanna plants (and plants in general).

Sensible Cost

Ability To Make Precise Cuts

Durability

Sensible Cost:

With most plants, kanna included, you don’t need an ultra flashy, expensive pair of pruners that you can pass down to your grandchildren. I’m not saying you should buy a flimsy tool that will only last a season, but there is a clear middle ground between a nigh unusable tool and a 100$ bonsai pruner.

Ability to make precise cuts:

Since we will be primarily using these scissors for kanna and other soft, herbaceous plant materials, you don’t need a pruner that is capable of cutting through inch thick branches. In fact, any pruner that is capable of that would probably get in your way and cause some inadvertent cutting. See below for an example.

pruning shears and scissors — Look at how wide the blades of the bottom pruners are. This tool is great for chopping through branches and heavy work, but ill suited for precise work.

We will be looking for thin tip, precise cutters. See below:

Vivosun 6.5 Inch Gardening Scissors — These cutters allow you to precisely cut your plants where you want them, without worrying about damaging the surrounding plant materials.

Durability:

We touched on it briefly earlier, but I would just like to reiterate that durability is an important part of tool selection. I prefer to buy something that will last me a long time vs buying something that I can only use a few times before I have to replace it. It’s better for the environment, and your bank account to do so.

Vivosun 6.5 Inch Gardening Scissors

These scissors are my choice for pruning my kanna and other rare herbaceous plants. They are durable, precise, inexpensive, and comfortable.

Pruning kanna plant with vivosun gardening scissors — The thin tip allows you to make the precise cuts you need. This is especially useful for kanna which tends to grow over itself and form a mat.

These pruners were around 6$ as of August 2024, and as far as pruners go, they fit my criteria. I like the design, precision, cost, and durability.

I am not sponsored by vivosun, these are just my opinions on pruners. I am sure you could find other similar pruners from different companies which would suit your needs.

Transplant Garden — Rare and Curious Plants