By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

Winter is pruning time, and it gives you the perfect excuse to get outside and do some gardening that matters. This year I’ve been clipping away at everything from dogwood to spindle tree with new Genus pruners from Leatherman. At $90 (street price), they’re double the cost of Swiss-made, industry-standard Felco pruners, so they have a high bar to clear. But many things make Genus pruners competitive.

For starters, these American-made secateurs do their primary job—cutting twigs and small branches—as well as anything you can buy. Second, Leatherman’s engineers have come up with a safety that doesn’t accidentally lock during use. And the Genus has an array of add-on tools in the handle that actually come in handy. Pruning a wicked patch of rugosa roses, I flipped out the saw several times during my work to quickly remove thick, hardened old canes that were too big for the pruner jaws.

This isn’t the Portland, Oregon company’s first shot at making pruners: they introduced another series last year, but the extra tools folded into the outside of the handles, where they tended to chafe hands during routine pruning. To overcome that, this model has the knife, screwdrivers, saw, sprinkler adjustment key, and file on the inside of one handle. To access them, you rotate the handle 180°, putting the tools on the outside where you can easily open them. This is definitely a pro-quality tool that should find a place in your tool shed.