How Haws perfected the watering can rose

How Haws perfected the watering can rose

Our founder John Haws, followed by his successor and nephew Arthur Haws, were passionate about making the finest watering cans possible. As well as introducing a more balanced, more easily controlled can they also refined the role of the rose – providing constant yet gentle flowing water for a range of young plants.

Haws watering cans are renowned for their watering prowess, providing a continuous stream of water. But even in the early years, they were sold with two carefully engineered, interchangeable roses: one round with a more focussed spray ideal for individual pots; the other oval with a broader spray for use on seed beds and wider areas. At its simplest, a rose is an attachment fitted to the end of the watering can spout that divides the water flow across many small holes, turning a single stream into a spray.

The meticulous design of our roses is still one of the standout qualities that sets a Haws watering can apart from lesser brands. Early adverts described ‘perfect rose action, producing a soft, rainlike spray’ – a claim we are still happy to make today!

The roses push on and twist off the can’s spout by hand and, depending on the can and its fitting, we offer a range of roses with different face shapes and spray weights (with droplet sizes from extra fine to extra coarse). This allows for careful and targeted irrigation at all stages of a plant’s life. And all the time, everything is controlled by the hand of the gardener.

The highest standards

Our predecessor Arthur Haws in particular worked hard to perfect the rose in the early years of the 20th century. He felt that only the highest standards would suffice and spent much of that time developing the best design for our brass roses. He also added filters inside the can to prevent sediment from clogging the fine perforations (holes) and help maintain a constant water flow – as a result of all this work he secured many other patents.

The face of each rose was carefully domed to ensure the correct spread of water, with the perforations spaced and sized to control water flow. Arthur also came up with the idea of tapering the holes on the brass faces, as he believed tapered holes were easier to clear when clogged with debris. So versatile was the design of these roses, that in more recent years they were adapted to fit hose-mounted spray lances.

From the archive

Fascinating records collected from former employees and written by historian Percy Cross during the 1970s describe exactly how the brass roses were made – and it transpires for the most part by hand, until at least the middle of the 20thcentury, at the Bishops Stortford factory in Hertfordshire.

Percy writes: ‘Probably the most exacting task was the punching of the small diameter holes in the rose faces. Sewing needles held singly in a collet were operated by a foot pedal, the blanks being offered up by hand on a wooden pad. Four sizes of needles were used for roses of differing diameters, the tips of the needles being ground off so that a slightly tapering hole was produced. Each hole was punched out one at a time by a body worker who had shown a special dexterity for this precise and exacting type of work. The method was in use until 1950.’

Today our various roses are available in brass-faced plastic and traditional all-brass. All-brass roses are put together in a jig: for those with oval roses the face is mechanically locked into the brass back forming a sealed seam around the rim, while round ones are assembled with soldered joints across the face back and fitting. fit hose-mounted spray lances.

Face up or face down?

It is a matter of some controversy among gardeners how roses are supposed to be used; should they be positioned with the perforations facing up or down? In fact, our oval and round roses can be used either way, although the difference is most obvious when using an oval rose due to its angled head.

When used face up, the spray of water arches upward before falling, dispersing over a wider area; this may be a useful technique for watering seed trays or seed beds, where broad, even coverage is important. Fitted face down, the water falls more directly and stays contained, ideal for pots, containers, and established plants where you usually need targeted watering.

So whatever you are watering with your rose – whether it’s specific small seed tray or a large area of plants – you can ensure that a Haws watering can and its rose has done all the thinking for you… so all you have to do is concentrate on growing a beautiful garden.