[.uk] American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training ... (ISBN 1564583317)

Book Description:
Filled with brilliant before-and-after photography, it provides gardeners with complete information on how to create the garden of their dreams.

One of my top resources as a professional landscaper:
The strength of this book is in the solid way the information is presented - anyone from the greenest beginner to the most experienced pro will find information in here that is practical and useful. The book is arranged into sections - general pruning information and techniques, with excellent, full color diagrams, photos, and thorough text explaining every tip and technique they show. The section on rose pruning, for example, has photos of roses trained in different ways, diagrams of different kinds of tangled roses which need pruning (with shading to show which stems they'd remove and keep, and the angles and positions of each cut), and explanatory text detailing exactly why each branch was cut, the theory behind the mechanics, and some tips to keep in mind when you get outside with your pruning shears. Then there is the encyclopedia portion - divided into types of plants - like trees, shrubs, fruiting shrubs, etc. If you know the name of what you are trying to prune, you can get detailed information on how to renovate an old gnarled shrub, how to train a new one, and how to give an existing plant shape and a nice form. Each plant has accurate information on whether you can cut it to the ground, prune to hard wood, and what training and pruning techniques are successful on each type of plant. I have been a landscaper for over ten years, doing design and maintenance, and this book is one I carry with me every spring when I do my seasonal pruning jobs - if there is a plant that I have never hard pruned or renovated before, I just look it up quickly to check which techniques are successful on which plants, and it has never guided me wrongly. If you'd like to begin caring for your own plants, this is one of the top books you should pick up. Disabato-Aust's The Well-Tended Perennial Garden is another good one, for after you have learned some of the techniques presented here.

Yeah I can prune now!:
I kill plants! Not on purpose just some people are green thumb challenged. My husband and I bought quite a few fruit tree last summer and we had no idea how to prune them this book has saved me it is easy to understand(for those of us who are not gifted in yard care things) and easy to follow with lots of good information. It also is not a pruning for dummies book it really is for anybody I think even experienced gardeners would love it. It is just clean and uncomplicated.

Very thorough, great book:
This book is the best I have seen on pruning all types of plants. Good use of pictures as well.

American Horticultural Society Pruning and Training:
Very detailed and informative guide to plant appearance and health. A should read for all gardeners.

American Horticultural Society Pruning & Training:
Recommended by a professor of horticulture as an excellent pruning manual, this book has excellent charts and diagrams of many different woody plants.