GARDENING New hues brighten yard tools

Companies are aiming for functional tools that look fun.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A yard-tool revolution is under way.
At hardware stores, blue and yellow hoses sit next to garden-variety green ones. Discount retailers carry translucent orange sprinklers. And nurseries feature rainbow varieties of watering wands.
Traditionally, we've bought tools that coordinate with the lawn. Now we're flocking to buy items that stand out like sunflowers and gerbera daisies. The mantra is color, color, color.
"They're easier to find when you set them aside," said Abigail Jacobs, spokeswoman for Kmart, which introduced Martha Stewart Everyday orange-red, apple-green and aqua-blue watering tools last year.
"If it's blue, it won't get lost in the grass, and it's easier to spot in the garage or in storage areas."
Stewart started the line by approving colors for hose nozzles. Watering wands and translucent sprinklers followed. They've become so popular that hoses and other new products will be offered next year.
Started with iMac
Designers say the colorful tool trend began after Apple introduced iMac computers several years ago in indigo, ruby and sage. Manufacturers followed suit and began considering the appearance of basic products in a new way.
"People identify strongly with color," said Bryan Wallace, retail manager for Family Tree Nursery in Overland Park, Kan. "They buy flowers in the colors of their favorite sports teams, so it makes sense that hoses and watering wands would be the same way."
Gardeners Eden catalog sells nozzles and 50-foot spring-coil hoses that resemble giant telephone cords in copper, blue, violet and red ($64 each). And they're translucent, another recent and popular feature.
"They're convenient because they collapse and don't take up the space of the traditional hose," said Ron Parks, a product developer and market researcher for Durham Parks Associates in St. Louis.
Colors and this new see-through-thing play upon buyers' impulses because they're fun, Parks said. That's why tools and gardening equipment he has helped conceptualize for MidWest Quality Gloves Inc. of Chillicothe, Mo., come in rose, kiwi and pale blue, among other shades.
Based on what Parks is starting to see at trade shows, he thinks the next innovations in outdoor tools will be more children's items and products that contain electronic features. And the variety of colors is here to stay.