Customer Reviews

The Pruning Book

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Not only is The Pruning Book useful for our North Temperate Zone climate, but it is a joy to read. Of course, we all know that before pruning comes planting, which subject the author touches-on in his chapter on fruits and nuts.

I feel it's important to note that Author Lee Reich holds a doctorate in horticulture with an extensive background in pruning research. With regard to pruning trees, he emphasizes the fact that slow does it -- over a period of several years for both young and old. Regarding plants that can be intensively pruned, Lee points out how to exploit to our advantage the tendency of many woody plants to sprout prolifically. Such plants include hedges, topiary, standards, fruit etc.. Yet, he warns us against the heavy pruning of health-compromised woody plants. Dr. Reich, as well, underscores the fact that proper pruning includes an emphasis on minimalist pruning.

Lee hopes that we have properly sited our major woody plants -- planted the right tree in the right place, so to speak. He, nevertheless, also deals with those fun 'though labor intensive pruning forms -- pollarding and pleaching. Lee lists a number of fast-growing deciduous trees that "take" to pollarding as well as listing some trees with strong, flexible branches for pleaching. This is not a serious book of lists, just a productive attempt at teaching us how to form our own lists.

Good advice abounds throughout including apropos diagrams and photos. Plant specific advice is often augmented by easy to read tables in many of the categories of pruning that he discusses. Lee even covers something we forget to include in the subject of pruning -- mowing. And, necessarily, he does justice to the different pruning needs of the various maturational stages of our woodies. This includes training of the young plant as well as maintenance of the mature, and the finer points of renovation of the old and neglected.

Lee's advice includes the "why," not just the "how" that most pruning books concentrate upon. He makes the often dry subject of pruning easy to swallow with a spoon full of all sorts of interesting and helpful information... I bet you didn't know that Japanese wisteria twines clockwise while the Chinese species climbs counterclockwise. I'll leave you with a final observation on the latter. After seeing numerous structures literally torn apart by wisteria, I'm going to plant it as a tree -- per a commonly used method suggested by the author.

I love my pruning tome done by the American Horticultural Society, but, The Pruning Book is also "a keeper."

I am still currently reading the book. It's packed full of good things. The best thing about it is, if you have a specific type of plant you can go directly to that section and it gives you a clear and detailed way of pruning the plant. I think its a must have for any gardener.

I first encountered this book at the local library, and liked it so much I wanted to own it myself. I couldn't part with it. The writing style, illustrations, organization, and advice are all clear, straightforward, and sensible. In addition, the author's enthusiasm for the subject makes this more than a reference guide, and during long winters it can serve as an inspiration for the seasons ahead.

The day I received this book, I immediately began to use it. I had wanted to make a hedge of some beautiful crape mytrle by our back door. The book gave detailed instructions and pictures. The mytrle has already started to leaf into a bush after only a few weeks. I know they will be perfect and I would not have known exactly how it should be done without the book. I had a general idea, but the book's instructions were much better. I am anxiously awaiting fall for some other pruning projects. Pruning season had ended for a number of bushes and trees before I could get pruning accomplished.

Best pruning book I've come across. I'm not a "gardener" so it helps that it really explains what you need to do.

Reading the section on pruning espaliers (plus the Plant Response to Pruning) gave me an "Aha" moment. While most espalier pruning articles I had read offered only advice on shaping and where to cut, he explained the reasoning behind the type of cuts one makes, why the tree reacts the way it does, and some of the issues to look out for. He writes in a style that is easy to understand. I have two espaliers (cherry and apple) that I left alone all summer because I was intimidated by the lack of knowledge I had at the time. Not anymore! Well, sadly it's getting to be too late to make the pruning cuts needed, but this winter I will start in earnest to make these trees beautiful and (hopefully) full of fruit next year!

This is a must have book for everybody who has shrubs, trees and perennials in your landscape. It is well written, awesomely illustrated, engaging and easy to follow. One of the most important books in my gardening reference collection.

Very useful book. I am a beginner gardener, so it has been very useful to me. Almost every plant/tree/bush at our new house was overgrown - and the book gave me great insight into what to do about it.

Lee Reich is one of the more underrated garden writers today. His books are not pretty or decorative, but the amount that one can learn from them is much much more than than what you get from Martha Stewart or P. Allen Smith any day. Here's to more great work from him.