These are made in various sizes and weights so it's important to choose the right pair for the job.

Smaller shears are fine for short lengths of leafy hedge and other soft trimming jobs such as tidying up herbaceous perennials and heathers.

But woodier material tends to slide out of small-bladed versions, so larger shears are necessary to give you the leverage and power to snip through twiggy hedges with their thicker harder stems.

Very woody material can still escape, so shears with wavy-edged blades (such as Draper's) are the better choice here. But generally, the meatier the shears, the heavier they are, so if you think this will be a problem, look for lightweight shears such as the ARS K1000 (from Burton Mcall), which weigh 650g (that's about 1lb in old money).