Getting a clean cut on Elephant Ears

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If you've been gardening for a while, you know that it starts out with hopes that things will grow - and then you spend a lot of time cutting stuff!

My Elephant Ears, like my Cannas, grow like wildfire. And I had been in the habit of chopping away at them with a curved saw, and just generally making kind of a mess, until a friend of mine sent me a Japanese Gardening knife. It has a serrated edge, is incredibly sharp, and a slight curve. You use it by placing the blade where you want the cut to be and pulling quickly forward. On fibrous plants, it cuts like a knife through butter, and gives that nice clean "surgical" cut that I like so much.

It cost $9.99 and the only thing it says is "Japan" on the handle. The cardboard blade cover has Asian writing, so I have no idea what it says. I just know that it works great.

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