Houseplants are still hot, plus additions to ranges
Burgon & Ball is one of my favourite stop-offs at the Garden Press Event – the company’s range of gardening tools and sundries is so diverse, there is always something to catch the eye. Here are the new products unveiled at the event:
Indoor gardening tools and sundries
A key look is the ‘jungalow’ home, where plants drip from every surface and hang from aerial pots. The Baby Dotty pots now come in a trio (£22.99) in a gift box. Each pot features a dip glaze in aqua, petrol blue and greige.
Also perfect for displaying houseplants, the Malibu indoor pots (£6.99-£22.99) feature an understated speckled glaze in soft blue, green or cream. Each pot narrows at the base to a faux ’stand’ in a contrasting colour.
Finally, the Fuji Japanese flower arranging bowl (£9.99) is ideal for ikebana, or Japanese flower arranging. Supplied with a sturdy metal Kenzan spike (or ‘Frog’). It was shortlisted in the Gift of the Year Awards 2020.
Sophie Conran range
Taking centre stage are the large tools in the Sophie Conran range: a digging fork and digging spade (£42.99 each), a lopper (£37.99) and a hedge shear (£37.99), created to make gardening easier for gardeners of smaller stature. The spade and fork have T-grip handles, making it easy to use a double-handed grip. Both tools are slightly shorter, which also keeps the weight to a minimum. The hedge shear and lopper feature drop-forged high-carbon steel blades, lightweight FSC ash handles with ergonomic grips.
In hand tools, there’s a polished topiary shear (£31.99), with all-steel construction and a simple brass lock. A long, thin trowel (£19.99) is ideal for planting, digging, and weeding. An ultra-slim pocket knife (£14.99) is perfect for a smaller hand.
The striped ticking fabric accessories range has expanded, now with a full gardener’s apron (£29.99), a tool bag (£27.99) and a garden kneeler (£20.99). Additions in the wild bird care selection are ceramic birdseed feeders (£15.99) and fat ball feeders (£9.99), in the shape of pears and pomegranates.
National Trust range
Burgon & Ball has a licensed range of tools in collaboration with the National Trust, with a percentage of revenue from sales supporting the charity’s conservation work. The range consists of a core gardening tool set: digging spade, digging fork, trowel, hand fork, round-tined fork, claw cultivator, patio weeding knife, dibber, lopper, hedge shear, topiary shear, bypass secateurs and pocket knife.
The tools are crafted largely in high-carbon steel, with dark wood and touches of brass carrying the joint National Trust and Burgon & Ball logo. Many traditional manufacturing processes, little-seen today, are used to create the tools, combined with environmental concerns in mind – FSC®-certified hardwood handles, recyclable card packaging and vegetable-based inks.
Prices range from £10.99 to £36.99, available to buy in garden centres, National Trust shops and online at www.burgonandball.com and nationaltrust.org.uk.
RHS-endorsed gardening tools and sundries range
This season, there’s a collection of RHS-endorsed tools for wood cutting: axes, a log-splitting maul, and a log-splitting grenade. Traditionally crafted, these heavy-duty tools have high-carbon steel tool heads that are drop forged. The flared handle ends aid grip retention for greater strike impact. Traditional FSC® hickory wood handles bring outstanding shock absorption, and buffalo hide pouches protect the sharpened tool heads.
The hatchet axe (£22.99) weighs just 600g for single-handed use. It’s ideal for splitting logs for kindling. There’s a chopping axe (£38.99), a larger two-handed axe, weighing in at 1.15kg, useful for splitting firewood into manageable pieces.
The log-splitting maul (£53.99) has a heavy broad head combining an axe blade with a hammerhead, an all-rounder for splitting wood, at 2kg, making short work of splitting logs.
A sledgehammer (£38.99) is useful for a variety of wood chopping and splitting tasks, with a robust 3.2kg head in high-carbon steel.
A log-splitting grenade (£13.99) weighs 1.6kg, forged in high-carbon steel.
There’s also an RHS-endorsed lawn scarifying rake (£42.99), designed to easily remove thatch (dead grass and moss). This allows more air and water to reach the roots for a healthier, lusher lawn. The stainless steel is resistant to rust. The long, lightweight handle in FSC®-certified hardwood eliminates stooping.
Finally, enjoy the left-handed bypass secateurs (£22.99), created in response to customer requests. The durable high-carbon steel blade gives lasting sharpness, while robust alloy handles give lightweight strength. Perfect for general pruning and for cutting live green growth up to 2.5cm in diameter.
For more details or stockist information, visit www.burgonandball.com. Why not take a look at the company’s Express Hoe?
