Founded in Clapton, London in 1886 by John Haws, a self-described unsuccessful gardener who first sketched the design while struggling to grow vanilla during his colonial service in Mauritius. The patent he secured gave the can two handles and a spout set low on the body, for balance whether the can was full or nearly empty, a shape Haws still produces largely unchanged. His nephew Arthur moved production to Bishops Stortford and spent years refining the rose, perforated by hand, hole by hole, to control the spray for seedlings and mature plants alike. The company went dark twice, once after the war and again in the 1970s recession, before the Pennock family revived it in 1982. Every can is still handmade in the West Midlands, spun and soldered by hand in galvanized steel or copper that colors with age.