Essential Pruning Techniques: Trees, Shrubs, and Conifers

Kirkham, the head of the arboretum and gardens at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, adds to knowledge and authority put forth by George E. Brown (1917–1980), a curator at the Royal Botanic Gardens, in his popular handbook, first published in 1972. The book includes profiles of 379 trees and shrubs, listed alphabetically, including the new and rare wollemia. Each item cites habits, attributes, and pruning reasons and times.. The book best serves experienced gardeners: Kirkham properly employs Latin genera and species but rarely adds common names. Also, Kirkham uses but doesn’t always define arborists’ jargon such as abscission and decurrent. He is definitive in his orders, however: “Don’t be afraid of getting in there early with the secateurs and sorting out an unruly specimen.” (Mar.)