When I joined a national garden club several ages ago, my thank you gift was a shiny bypass pruner with green handles. It took only a few clippings before the blades dulled and shredded plant ...

Fiskars bypass pruner model 9101, $13.99, Fred Meyer stores with garden centers, including 3805 S.E. Hawthorne; 503-872-3300; fiskars.com ...

The Felco No. 6 One-Hand Pruning Shears are among the best pruners you can buy – perfect for deadheading plants, or cutting stems and thin branches.

Bypass hand pruners, designed to cut branches less than 1 inch wide, often snip more than stems. They slice rope, twine and even chicken wireor at least, the ones in our test did. Unfair? Maybebu ...