Ideas for the design of specialized pruning tools may have emerged soon after the first person deliberately pruned the plant. About 2,000 years ago, a Roman named Columella wrote about the vinitoria falx, a grape pruning tool with six different functions.
        I’ve never seen one cropping tool do six different things. Depending on your plants and gardening aspirations, you may not even need half a dozen different tools. But anyone who grows plants probably needs at least one pruning tool.
        Think about what you are cutting so that the tool is the right size for the cut. Too many gardeners try to use hand pruners to trim branches that are too thick to cut effectively with this tool. Using the wrong size tool can make pruning difficult, if not impossible, and leave broken stumps that make the plant look abandoned. It can also damage the instrument.
        If I only had one pruning tool, it would probably be a pair of scissors with a handle (what the British call a pruner) that can be used to cut stems about half an inch in diameter. The working end of hand shears has an anvil or bypass blade. When using scissors with an anvil, the sharp blade rests against the flat edge of the opposite blade. The flat edges are made of soft metal so as not to dull the opposite sharp edges. In contrast, bypass scissors work more like scissors, with two sharp blades sliding past each other.
        Anvil shears are generally cheaper than bypass shears and the price difference is reflected in the final cut! Many times the anvil blade crushed part of the stem at the end of the cut. If the two blades don’t fit together perfectly, the final cut will be incomplete and a string of bark will hang from the cut stem. The wide, flat blade also makes it difficult for the tool to fit snugly against the bottom of the rod being removed.
        A pair of scissors is a very useful tool. I always check potential candidates for weight, hand shape and balance before selecting a candidate. You can buy special scissors for little ones or lefties. See if it’s easy to sharpen blades on a specific pair of hand shears; some have interchangeable blades.
        Well, let’s move on to the title. I do a lot of pruning and have a wide variety of pruning tools, including a variety of hand shears. My favorite trio of scissors with handles, all hanging from a rack near the garden door. (Why so many instruments? I collected them when I was writing the book The Book of Oruninga.
        My favorite hand shears are ARS scissors. Then there are my Felco scissors for heavier pruning and my Pica scissors, the lightweight scissors that I often toss in my back pocket when I go out into the garden, even if I don’t specifically plan to cut anything.
        To cut branches over half an inch in diameter and about an inch and a half in diameter, you will need scissors. This tool is essentially the same as hand shears, except that the blades are heavier and the handles are several feet longer. As with hand shears, the working end of the secateurs can be anvil or bypass. The long handles of the loppers act as leverage to cut off these larger stems and allow me to reach the base of overgrown rose or gooseberry bushes without being attacked by thorns.
        Some loppers and hand shears have a gear or ratchet mechanism for extra cutting power. I especially like the extra cutting power of the Fiskars loppers, my favorite tool of this type.
        If the need for cutting power exceeds what my garden shears can provide, I go to my shed and grab a garden saw. Unlike a woodworking saw, pruning saw teeth are designed to work on new wood without clogging or sticking. The best are the so-called Japanese blades (sometimes called “turbo”, “three-start” or “frictionless”), which cut quickly and cleanly. They all come in different sizes, from those that fold up to fit neatly in your back pocket to those that can be carried in a belt holster.
        We can’t leave the topic of garden saws without mentioning chainsaws, a useful but dangerous tool. These petrol or electric saws can quickly cut through the large limbs of people or trees. If you only need to trim a plant-filled backyard, a chainsaw is overkill. If the size of your cut dictates such a tool, rent one, or better yet, hire a professional who has a chainsaw to do it for you.
        Experience with a chainsaw has generated respect for this useful but dangerous pruning tool. If you feel like you need a chainsaw, get one that’s the right size for the wood you’re cutting. When you do, also buy a pair of glasses, headphones, and knee pads.
        If you have formal hedges, you will need hedge trimmers to keep them clean. Hand shears look like a pair of giant shears and are perfect for small hedges. For larger hedges or a faster cut, choose electric shears with straight stems and oscillating blades that serve the same purpose as manual shears.
        I have a long privet hedge, another apple hedge, a boxwood hedge, and a couple of exotic yews, so I use electric shears. The battery-powered hedge clippers make the job enjoyable enough to inspire me to even more exotic plant cutting.
        Over the centuries, many pruning tools have been developed for very specialized purposes. Examples include crimson vine digging hooks, pointed cylinders for cutting strawberry shoots, and battery-powered hedge trimmers that I have and use to get to the top of tall hedges.
        Of all the specialized tools available, I wouldn’t recommend using a high branch chainsaw. It’s just a length of chainsaw with a rope at each end. You toss the device over a high branch, grab the end of each rope, place the toothed chain in the center of the branch, and alternately pull the ropes down. The results can be disastrous, and in the worst case, the limbs may fall on top of you as he rips long strips of bark from the trunk.
        Pole shears are a smarter way to deal with tall branches. Attached to my pruning shears are a cutting blade and a pruning saw, and as soon as I bring the tool through the tree to the branch, I can select the cutting mechanism. The cord activates the cutting blades, allowing the tool to do the same job as a hand shear, except it travels many feet up the tree. The pole pruner is a useful tool, though not as versatile as the 6-in-1 grape pruner from Columella.
        New Paltz contributor Lee Reich is the author of The Pruning Book, Grassless Gardening, and other books, and a gardening consultant specializing in growing fruits, vegetables, and nuts. He conducts workshops at his New Paltz farm. For more information, please visit www.lereich.com.