13 best garden shears and secateurs for trimming grass, hedges and shrubs

Wilkinson Sword, it turns out, doesn’t just make razors – it makes gardening tools too, and seriously sharp ones at that.

The tapered precision-ground blades made it easy to reach the branches other shears failed to reach, while the low weight – just 470g – and oversized areas of cushioning were hugely appreciated during some of our more intense pruning sessions.

We also loved the compact design – these shears have a total length of just 450mm, which makes them one of the more compact shears on the market.

As we’ve mentioned, we’re prone to clumsiness, so the trip hazard-reducing, bright-orange splashes of colour on these shears were a major bonus on the odd (read: repeated) occasions when we absent-mindedly left these shears lying in long grass.

The handles are incredibly tactile, and although we were initially sceptical about the angled design, this aspect absolutely transformed the speed with which we could tidy up the edges of our lawn, while also making it much easier to prune awkwardly angled branches.

Think of these as the supercars of the shearing world – lean, mean shearing machines, which bring to mind a surgical instrument. Which they sort of are, in hindsight. The tapered blades are ideal for precision trimming a wide range of plants, and despite a rather lengthy pruning session, we experienced zero wrist ache, thanks to the ultra-lightweight aluminium handles.

We also appreciated the generous areas of rubber cushioning, while a slight angle on the blades (designed for work on smooth surfaces) allowed us to shear a particularly unruly hedge into shape in no time.

As an aside, we also love the fact that when ordering items from Burgon & Ball’s website, you don’t add items to your basket but to your “barrow”. Genius.

Prior to reviewing these, we’re not sure we’d have been convinced about the value of dedicated vegetable shears, but we’re officially converts, largely due to the ultra-sharp blades, which have a serrated edge to prevent slippage – a major bonus when you’re pruning around your prized tomatoes.

The sculpted handle has clearly been designed with ergonomics in mind, and patches of tactile material in key areas reduced hand fatigue.

At a time when we’re all trying to make our possessions – whether electronics or garden tools last longer – we also loved the ease with which we could take apart the blades in order to clean them.

These shears may have struggled with some of the thicker branches, but they’re definitely among the best shears you’ll get for less than £11. The slender handles paired with the elongated blades gave us plenty of reach, while bright yellow touches ensure they stand out.

We especially appreciated the large areas of cushioning, which made it change the position of our grip, while still maintaining a secure hold, when doing different types of work.

These shears, crafted from Japanese steel and made in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, are truly things of beauty – and we don’t use that phrase very often when it comes to gardening tools, trust us.

They tackled everything from shrubs to hedges (we also used them to tidy up the edges of our lawn) with ease, and are also particularly suitable for topiary. Ever dreamt of turning your privet hedge into a giant bunny rabbit? These shears might just make your dream come true. 

We also love the ingenious extra features – such as the slight bulges on the handle, which mark the ideal spot to hold them – and the sheer strength of the Japanese steel.

A real contender for our best buy, the only slight downside is that maintenance on these shears is quite important. But show them the attention they deserve, and they’ll keep on delivering.

Do shears need to be electric? No, but after a session with these bad boys, we can guarantee that the extra power is a total game-changer. In this case, the extra oomph doesn’t mean extra weight either – the shears are surprisingly lightweight, coming in at just 0.7kg.

Added extras include a durable carry case, and it comes with two blades – one for trimming grass and one for trimming shrubs.

We didn’t have to be topiary experts to appreciate the incredibly neat cuts made by these shears, and the generous battery life of 110 minutes meant we had more than enough juice to tend to our lawn edges and shrubs in a single shearing session.

Being prone to clumsiness, the blade covers, trigger locks and ergonomic rubberised handle were massively appreciated.

Wavy blades mean more precision, simply because the branches you’re tackling are less likely to slide along the blade – in other words, you’ll cut where you intend to cut. And trust us, as gardeners who have savaged more plants than you’d think possible, this proved to be a major bonus.

We also loved the telescopic handles, which had an incredibly smooth motion – all too often telescopic handles just don’t cut the mustard.

Our one (very minor) gripe? We’d have loved to see a larger area of rubber on the handles, but this minor issue doesn’t detract from the brilliance of these shears.

Collabs, it appears, have reached the gardening world, and we’re rather glad they have, if the results are this good. Sophie Conran, of the legendary British design dynasty, has created a thing of beauty – elegant shears with tactile FSC-certified ash handles adorned with a brass plaque, paired with drop-forged carbon steel blades.

These shears provided us with both the extra stretch we needed to reach some sky-scraping branches and more than enough power to slice through some seriously tough plant parts.

Cushioning has been replaced with shock-absorbing bumpers – something we were sceptical about, until we realised we’d survived a marathon hedge-trimming session without a hint of any aches or pains.

These might not be the prettiest shears but when we’re knee-deep in a privet bush, we don’t really care. What we do care about, however, is our shears’ ability to whip our hedges into shape and these do so with ease. These shears, which have a surprisingly long reach, are all about comfort, and we loved the large areas of gel-based cushioning, the smoothness with which the telescopic handles extended, the shock-absorbing bumpers and the presence of a dual compound lever, which ramped up the power without the need to open the handles extra-wide. It is a little on the heavy side though.

These incredibly light shears helped us through a seriously gruelling hedge-trimming session. Plenty of padding and slick telescopic handles made our shearing session a breeze, and we appreciated Fiskars’ trademark flashes of bright orange, which helped the shears stand out, even when left carelessly in our weed-prone flowerbed.

These shears probably aren’t the ideal tools for the toughest of hedges, but they quickly whipped our out-of-control privet hedge into shape and made light work of the stray branches on our various shrubs, too.

Our (very small) garden shed is constantly overflowing with tools, garden furniture and various other items, so compact tools get an immediate bonus point. And these secateurs from Felco are a brilliant example – short, fat shears with handles wrapped entirely in rubberised material.

They’re also packed with features worth their weight in gold, including a wire-cutting notch, a sap groove and a rotating handle to reduce the risk of wrist and hand strain.

The hardened steel blades are incredibly sharp, and the forged aluminium handles feel reassuringly tough but surprisingly light.

No, the appearance of shears doesn’t mean anything when it comes to their performance, but there was something refreshing about seeing these shears’ unusual colour scheme – the paleness of the beechwood paired with flashes of royal blue.

A three-position switch ramped up the versatility of these shears, and the stainless steel blades made effortless cuts through some seriously tough branches.