The Complete Guide to Pruning Trees and Bushes Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply

by K.O. Morgan

According to the Virginia Cooperative Extension, operated by Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, there are more than 60 different kinds of shrubs in North America with varying pruning requirements, timelines, and necessities. This massive variety makes it so that anyone interested in pruning needs to be very well educated in how the process is completed, what it needed, what should be avoided, and most of all, when to plant, prune, and provide maintenance to your shrubs. This book walks every shrub enthusiast through the surprisingly complex process of pruning from the first seed in the ground to the annual progression of pruning steps that must be done in the right order to maximize the health of your shrubs. You will learn a variety of things You will benefit from the advice gathered from interviews with top experts in the field of pruning and gardening and their insights on how pruning should be completed for each type of plant. For anyone who interested in pruning of their plants either inside or outside, this guide will provide everything you need.

Genres: Gardening

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caveat: I did not read this book cover to cover. I read with the intent to discover if it would be a good reference book. I thought it had some helpful information. But I think it could benefit from a lot more illustrations. I couldn’t make sense of the directions just with verbal instruction.

[Heidi Roth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid resource for beginners

The Complete Guide to Pruning Trees and Bushes by K. O. Morgan takes a slightly different approach than many of the guides published by Atlantic Publishing Inc. The book is information dense. While most of these guides give a good overview on topics, you’ll get more details here than might be expected.

The author layers information in a way that in helpful and educational. Each chapter successfully builds on the next. While you could skip around the chapters in this book, those new to pruning their own trees and bushes would do well to read the first seven chapters in order. You will cover what you need to know about tools, techniques and safety. As a result you will be better prepared to explore the remaining chapters on pruning specific types of plants.

The remaining chapters, eight through twelve can be used based on the pruning you want to complete at a given time. You could even consider this the second section of the book. Divided into types of trees such as deciduous or fruit, these chapters can be resourced for quite awhile as you develop your landscape and garden skills.

I was surprised to learn that the author is multi-published but not in the field of gardening. Obviously a lot of research went into compiling and presenting all this information. I did, however, find a couple items lacking. Quick-reference tables are common in this type of book. This specific manual does not contain any. The addition of a zone-chart and some examples of how to combine the information in the book with climate zones would make the book even more valuable. Be sure to locate your planting zone and incorporate it into your plans for pruning.

If you’re looking for an effective, thorough introductory book to successful pruning this is a good place to start. Likely you will want other resources as your abilities to develop. You do get a concentrated amount of useful information to begin your journey with “The Complete Guide to Pruning Tress and Bushes: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply” as your guide book.