If the Lonicera decorates your garden, you may be wondering what care measures await you in autumn. When should you prune honeysuckle? Which season is optimal for which pruning measures?
Although it seems almost normal for trees to be trimmed in autumn, there are also more sensitive plants that are better off waiting until spring. And then there is also the case of summer pruning. It's no wonder that at some point you're no longer sure about your garden plants.
How you prune honeysuckle depends on the species
Lonicera is a fast-growing plant that, depending on the species and variety, climbs or grows as a shrub or ground cover. For this reason, you cannot avoid shaping and pruning. But don't worry, you don't have to constantly stand in wait with secateurs in hand. But a cut should be planned once a year. The only question is when exactly you should cut the honeysuckle. This depends on the honeysuckle varieties.
When is the right time and what will be cut?
A notice:Since evergreen honeysuckle is poisonous, you should wear gloves when cutting it.
Cut honeysuckle as a bush
There are upright and quite tall growing honeysuckles that you can cultivate both as solitary plants and as hedge plants. In both cases, the cut is not intended for shaping, but also promotes flower formation and dense growth. After the honeysuckle has finished flowering, you can use the scissors. That isusually in summer, after June. A regular rejuvenation cut is also recommended for strengthening.
- In summer, as soon as the flowering is over, cut back all shoots by about a third of their total length.
- Winter is the right time for a rejuvenation cut (not necessary every winter). You also cut off a third of the shoots, but this time you only shorten the old shoots.
If the bush appears very bare after the pruning, you don't have to worry. Fortunately, the plant is very tolerant of cutting and will definitely sprout again in spring.
These types include, for example:
- Common honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum)
- Tatar honeysuckle (Tatar honeysuckle)
If you have planted ground cover
Shortly before spring, cut ground-covering species. These are shrubs, but because of their growth habit they are popularused as ground coverbecome. They are also very easy to cut, so you can't really go wrong. In fact, you can be very brave because this way you stimulate particularly dense growth.
- At the beginning of March, carry out heavy pruning.
- Old wood can also be cut.
This species is used as a ground cover:
- Heckenmyrte (Shiny honeysuckle)
Cutting honeysuckle: This is what it looks like on climbing plants
IfEvergreen climbing plant that is also hardyis, the Lonicera is also used very often. For these species, it is important not to skip pruning in any year, otherwise more radical pruning would be necessary, from which the plants will be more difficult to recover.
- Cut back climbing varieties in late autumn.
- If possible, only shorten green shoots. This promotes vigorous growth to achieve a dense plant.
- Old wood sprouts more sparingly.
Popular climbing plants are:
- Evergreen honeysuckle/honeysuckle (Lonicera henryi)
Other special features that you should consider for the cuts
- Carry out thinning cuts in summer
Dense growth is desirable, but if at some point no light reaches the interior of the plant, it will go bald instead. This also disrupts ventilation, which promotes fungal diseases due to the increased humidity.
Start by removing diseased or dead branches. Then take a look at the plant to assess the following cuts. It is important that shoots that overlap and interfere with each other be trimmed or removed entirely. Is there one or two shoots that don't grow according to your wishes and are annoying? Cut it without worry!
- Cut back bare plants in late winter or late fall
In spring, plants sprout new plants and you can take advantage of thisif your plant is bare, which is particularly common in old age. With a more radical pruning you can rejuvenate it and thus promote new shoots where the plant was previously too bare. By the way, honeysuckles also become bald if their location is not sufficiently bright and sunny.
Anything that is dry and old can be removed, but use it more sparingly from the middle shoots onwards. Cutting through thicker branches can sometimes be difficult. However, try to avoid squashing the shoots in any case. If the plant is already quite old and therefore bare, it is worth cutting back radically so that it can start over, so to speak. This means you can shorten the wood to just 50cm.
But:Remember that old plants do not always sprout reliably once they have been radically cut back. Sometimes the plant even dies.
Cool tip:Why not use the cut branches to get new honeysuckles. They can be used wonderfully as cuttings.
Also read:When to cut hydrangeas: Is October a good time to do it?
