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Gardening gloves go high tech
 By
Carol McGraw
If you found Elsie Pope's gloves, please return them.
Not that you have much chance: She lost them about 10 years ago.
But she remembers them fondly, and if you think that's a bit over
the top, you're probably not a gardener.
Gardeners love their gloves, and once they find a pair they like,
it's like finding the perfect mate. As with love, though, nothing's
guaranteed. Gloves wander off. They wear out. They disappear forever.
"It's always the one-glove syndrome," says Deborah Carr,
a member of the Horticultural Art Society in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"I try to keep the gloves in my waistbands, but I forget. They
just disappear, or my dogs are always running away with them."
Pope's gloves were pricey biking gloves. In those days, garden
gloves weren't as high tech as they are today, and they were sized
to fit big-fisted workmen. Those bike gloves, on the other hand,
were dainty and "so thin I could separate seedlings with them,"
Pope says.
But alas, she and the gloves parted company when she was cleaning
up the Horticultural Art Society's demonstration gardens at in Colorado
Springs.
At least she doesn't have to resort to biking gloves anymore. Gardening
gloves have had a fashion and technological transformation.
"We call them designer gloves now," says Wayne Fisher,
owner of Good Earth Garden Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
For one thing, gardeners are not using heavy gloves much anymore,
Fisher says. Some gloves employ Nitrile, a breathable coating that
protects palms and fingertips and still allows you to feel what
you are doing.
And you almost need sunglasses to check out the blazing colors
of the modern glove.
We asked several avid gardeners to tell us about their favorite
pair of gloves and what they look for:
Barbara Colvin, owner of a professional gardening service: "I
do like Atlas thermal gloves for cold weather. I like Foxgloves
from Good Earth. They are soft and are good for feeling everything
and potting."
Pam Hamamoto, Master Gardener: Knit gloves with rubber fingers
and palms. "They breathe and protect your nails from breakage
and can go through the washer ..."
Carol Macon, American Rose Society rosarian consultant: Rose Pro's
deluxe goatskin gloves. "They are gauntlets that go to the
elbow, and thorns can't get through."
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060716/LIFE05/607160304/1036
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