A Tree-Hugger Shows Her Affection With a Saw

I have to admit that I prefer my trees au natural.  I'm not sure if I can't stomach using a saw on a living thing, or whether I'm just too lazy to learn to prune correctly, but pruning isn't easy for me.  Nevertheless, Anne Raver's most recent article is a nice summary and how-to.  The article also has some nice book recommendations:

I HAD actually been waiting for a hard freeze so I could go out and prune my old pear tree. Those 60- and 70-degree days in my garden last month made me wonder if the shrubs and trees, with their bulging buds, would ever go dormant.  So when the arctic weather rolled in two weeks ago, I put on my long underwear and went looking for my trusty tools: bypass pruning shears, a folding hand saw and loppers.

Link: A Tree-Hugger Shows Her Affection With a Saw - New York Times.