Great idea! I've been using scissors quite awhile for deadheading - so much easier. The cane is a great idea too cause I'm always teetering on the brink of falling into a rose bush - ouch! - or onto perennials nearby. Now if I can just keep my big fat feet from stepping onto and crushing bedding plants I'll be happy.

I'm afraid if I carried a cane with me out into the garden, I'd be tempted to try to use it on a couple of squirrels that have dug up nearly all my LA Lilies!
Jim

I use scissors too, and a pair of really sharp Fiskars hedge clippers.

Let the squirrels have it, Jim!! Smack them good! How dare they dig up your lilies! Why is it pests never dig up weeds, but always your favorite plants?

I think a cane or a hiking stick is a great idea to help with balance while deadheading. After the third time I failed to completely clear the short "rabbit fence" around the garden and fell flat on my face I found an old shovel/hoe handle and hammered it into the ground right beside the fence. Now I try to always climb over the fence right there and use the handle as a balance. My "hind leg" is getting slower and heavier every year. (And my garden flip flops aren't exactly safety shoes either.)

Debbie, you are so funny.............are you still annoyed with the pole vaulting rabbits????

Debbie, nice to be hearing from you again! It's been a while since I've jumped over fences and even way back then only very low ones, but I've been noticing that "heavy hind leg" problem too when stepping over stuff lately. I say "Thank you Lord!" quite a few times a day when I barely miss catching it on something.

This thread is just too close to home for me to even try to explain the things I do to stay "upright" ......but, whatever works, I say.