General Chat

The honeysuckle has been flowering on and off since last summer so I did not cut it back in the autumn. (It even had flowers on it during the snow we had.)

Now, secateurs in hand and prowling round the garden I've looked at it again. It's not in flower, looking very scraggy and can't at first glance see any buds.

Do I chop it right back - or just snip it about a bit?

Sorry - but cannot lay my hands on my old trusty gardening book so hope someone can help.

Cheers

Jill

*sits on garden fence waiting for someone clever with secateurs to answer*

Jill, I would be tempted to trim it about a third back.... but not too sure if that is right.

I have a clematis I have the same problem with.....

Love

Daff xxxx

I know nuffin..but found this...

It seems you have to first decide what type of honeysuckle you have.....

Japanese honeysuckle is an evergreen which produces flowers in the summer on the current season’s growth. Pruning honeysuckle is best done on the Japanese variety in the early spring before the new growth for the season has begun. In most locations, this means the months of March and April. This honeysuckle comes in several colors: white, red, pink, yellow, and violet.

The other type of honeysuckle is Dutch honeysuckle, which should be pruned each year right after flowering has ended. That’s because it grows on the previous year’s growth. The Dutch honeysuckle has larger flowers than the Japanese variety, and they come as crimson and cream or pink and cream. If you want to have a bushier plant, simply pinch off the new growth on the tips.

Some people aren’t concerned at all about pruning honeysuckle. That’s because many gardeners like it to grow as a climbing vine up the side of the house or on a trellis or similar solid object. It is not uncommon for honeysuckle which is not pruned to get out of control and turn into a tangled mess. When this happens, you have to be very careful pruning so as not to kill the plant. You have to do the best you can to lie the honeysuckle on the ground and try to separate the branches. Only then can you prune.

Gwyn

sounds like a Winter-flowering HS...sorry, am stating the obvious there probs...

Prune it end of March, early April, no later than May!

So how do you Prune it if its Honeysuckle Weeks? :o)>**M**.pmsl.

Thank you for replies.

Well it used to flower just in the summer - it's only this last winter that it carried on. We are fairly sheltered and by the coast in the south east so we don't often get severe frosts and don't get snow that hangs about too long (usually). But this winter was the first time it kept going.

It's pink and cream and smells delicious when in flower - it sounds like it could be Dutch. No idea whether it has bigger flowers than the Japanese variety as no idea what size flowers the Japanese variety has! Oooh it's confusing.

I think I will leave it to carry on sprawling - from fence, across covered bit towards house - and just "tidy it up". It's fairly hardy as once or twice over the years we've had to cut it right back due to blackfly but I don't like to do that as it takes ages to come back to normal.

Thank you people.

Jill

Hi Grumps,I have two in my garden,both in inconvenient places.

I am ruthless and chop it right back to make space on the path.

Do it now and the worst that will happen is it will flower later than usual.

If it dosn't do it the world of good,I will send you a replacement.

How is the crowshitting coming on??