Pruning is one aspect of gardening that nature is not very good at. Storms and gales are not very precise when it comes to removing branches, and encouraging new growth by breaking branches heavily laden with fruit lacks finese.For thousands of years, therefore, gardeners have been pruning plants so as to curtail excessive growth, form desirable shapes and encourage moe of the sort of shoots that will produce flowers and fruit. But there is more to pruning than cutting off the odd branch. If you attack a plant without basic knowledge the results can be catastrophic.John Cushnie has been pruning plants for more years than he cares to remember. With the help of specially commissioned step by step photography, he now draws on those decades of hands on experience to guide readers through techniques that will improve the quality and yield of fruit, flowers and foilage, encouraging growth and point it in the right direction, restrict plant size and produce desired shapes, whether elegant or wacky.With sections on when to prune; special treatments for young lants, old plants, hedges and trees, topiary and knot gardens; detailed advice for more complicated groups such as roses and clematis; and instructions for training fruit trees into espaliers, cordons or fans, supplemented by a directory of over 500 plants, this is the guide to pruning that keen gardeners and beginners alike have been waiting for.