Every gardener knows that pruning makes plants healthier, more fruitful, and more beautiful. But most gardeners wince at the thought of pruning. In The Pruning Book, master horticulturist Lee Reich provides a remedy for "fear of pruning, " making this dreaded task almost fun. In easy-to-read, engaging language, Reich gives specific methods for pruning hundreds of species from the cold climates to the tropics. He covers every type of plant, from ornamental bushes, evergreens, ornamental vines, and edible fruit and nut trees to houseplants. For those with special pruning interests Reich also gives time-tested advice for bonsai, topiary, espalier, and pleaching. He even takes a fresh look at such routine chores as mowing a lawn, including his own strategy for creating "lawn nouveau." With this witty and useful reference, any gardener can learn to like pruning.
Lee Reich, PhD started out pursuing an academic career, a trajectory that came to an abrupt halt during his second year in graduate school while studying quantum chemistry. He dropped out, moved to Vermont to ponder, and, after a year, immersed himself in the study and practice of agriculture: reading popular and academic works, entering graduate school, and gardening like a madman.
After three graduate degrees, work work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University, and much dirt under his fingernails, he went off on his own as a freelance horticultural writer, consultant, and lecturer.
Out in the backyard, the garden developed and garnered awards ("Prettiest Vegetable Garden: from Organic Gardening magazine, "Best Vegetable Garden" from National Gardening magazine), and was featured in the New York Times and Martha Stewart Living. The garden also grew: Lee now considers himself a farmdener (more than a gardener, less than a farmer), tending his farmden in a small river valley in New York's beautiful Hudson River Valley.
