The stories of Haws

These articles trace 140 years of Haws, from a struggling vanilla plantation on Mauritius to the watering cans made by hand in Birmingham today. Discover more about the origins of the watering can design, the golden age of gardening it emerged from, how the rose was perfected, and the medallion that has marked every genuine Haws can since the beginning.

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.
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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.
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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.
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Did you know?

The Haws brass badge helped identify genuine Haws cans from 'Haws type' cans made by other manufacturers. Each one was hand-polished before packing and dispatch. The brass badge depicts leafy branches of a fruiting hawthorn — the fruit known in the UK as 'haws'. On older cans, the badge often included the factory location around the rim, helping collectors date them.

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.
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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.
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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.
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Did you know?

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