Secateurs are the single most valued tool in the gardener’s trug, an implement as personally prized as the bricklayer’s trowel. With time, their weight and shape wear familiarly into the hand, becoming a companionable tool for all garden tasks, from pruning woody shrubs and cutting back perennials to slicing twine and preparing cut flowers. The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. There are two main types of secateurs, bypass and anvil (see below for their differences explained), and I’ve focused on the former here. If well looked after (we’ve included care instructions at the end of this article), a quality pair can last decades; as a result, gardeners declare staunch loyalties to particular models. After putting a range of gardeners’ bypass secateurs through the wringer in my own garden for the Filter a year ago, I donated them to the Garden Museum in London, where volunteers have made good use of them in the museum’s public gardens. As head gardener, I took the …