The Stories of Haws – Haws UK

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The stories of Haws

Every Haws watering can carries a history behind it, stretching from time spent on a vanilla plantation in Mauritius in the mid-1800s to a workshop in Smethwick, Birmingham, where the cans are made today. Along the way, the original design has been refined, the company has changed hands more than once, but the standard of craftsmanship has stayed constant throughout.

Discover the stories behind the last 140 years of Haws below.

What does the medallion say about your can?

You may have noticed a brass medallion on each Haws watering can, but did you know there are small but identifiable tweaks to the medallion that chart a history of constant evolution?

The history of Haws’ plastic watering cans

How a Saturday favour and a bright orange ballcock paved the way for Haws’ lineage of high-performance plastic watering cans.

What design is your watering can?

Believe it or not, there isn’t just one way to design a watering can. From ‘Traditional’ to ‘French’, and of course ‘Haws style’, we chart the three main styles of watering can available.

Haws and the golden age of horticulture

John Haws founded his company in 1886, right in the middle of one of the most significant periods in gardening history. New plants were arriving from collecting expeditions around the world, glasshouses were becoming common, and demand for good garden tools had never been higher.

The history of Haws

John Haws was, by his own account, an unsuccessful gardener. It was his struggle to water vanilla plants while working as a customs officer in Mauritius that led him to design a better watering can. The full story, from Clapton to Bishops Stortford to the cans made today.

The Haws seal of approval

Every genuine Haws can carries a small brass medallion at the breast, and it's carried more than a maker's mark for over a century. Where it came from, what it depicts, and how it helped tell real Haws cans apart from cheaper copies.

The perfect poise of a Haws watering can

A watering can needs to balance in the hand, empty or full, tipped or upright. John Haws solved this in 1886 with a two-handle design that's changed very little since. Here's how it works, and why it still shapes every can we make.

How Haws perfected the watering can rose

A good rose divides a single stream of water into a gentle, even spray, and perfecting it took two generations of Haws. John Haws introduced the first designs; his nephew Arthur spent years refining them further, down to the shape and taper of every hole.

The fantastic story of a vanilla orchid, a man and his need for a watering plants

An orchid that wouldn't grow without help, on an island a long way from home. The unlikely story of how a failed vanilla crop in Mauritius led to the design of the modern watering can.

Did you know?

Many of the watering cans Haws produces today, such as The Warley Fall, are made following a virtually unaltered design patented in 1886.

Shop The Warley Fall