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Honeysuckle in troughs

Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
in Plants
Thinking of planting a honeysuckle in a metal trough to climb up a west facing wall.  The trough is only 15 inches long by 8 inches deep, is this big enough?
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  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Sounds too small to me. Honeysuckle often suffers with mildew and I would have thought being in a container, with more risk of dry soil, would exacerbate that. 
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    I agree with Loxley I'm afraid, honeysuckle are big edge of woodland plants and aren't happy in any container.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Honeysuckle needs a deep cool root run … metal containers are never cool and a trough will never be deep enough. 

    In my opinion and experience a container for anything larger than a tiny honeysuckle I. Its first year or so needs to be very large, at least 24” deep and cool and shady. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Thanks for all your comments, I will have to rethink.  At present the troughs (there are two of them) have Jasmine I think it is called Star Jasmine - white flowers, and they haven't done very well, and are practically dead.  I wonder what would grow well in these troughs?
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2021
    I think I’d stick to summer bedding … or lots of gritty compost and sempervivums … or fill the troughs with pots of pelargoniums for the summer. 😊 

    💡 or lots of nasturtiums 😎 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I would maybe stick with nasturtium and if you want to grow perennial climbers in pots you need the biggest pot you can afford and the right soil and the right position and lots of watering and feeding. I grow lots in pots and climbers are the plants I struggle most with. Clematis have been my best so far and they need a lot of attention. Plus you need a variety designed to be grown in a pot. 
    To be honest a small metal trough won’t really suit much. Maybe herbs? 
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    I am taking on board your suggestions, which are all good, however I would prefer climbing plants and wondered if a Virginia Creeper would suit them, although I am thinking evergreen which a V.C. isn't.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Afraid not, GD, they, too can be big climbers with correspondingly big long root runs.
    You could try a pyracantha (although I'm struggling with mine in a large pot) or cotoneaster. Small evergreen climbers are difficult to find.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It’s sort of a matter of physics … in order to pump moisture up to the top of a climber (or a tree for that matter) it needs a big ‘pump’ ie the roots. Big climbers with small roots just don’t work. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Oh well, perhaps I will have to have a rethink, shame to waste the troughs but not sure if I want to plant bedding in them.  Thinking cap on!
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