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Pruning of Winter-flowering Honeysuckle
linzijayne74
Posts: 198
Hi folks. We recently moved into a bungalow and I'm delighted that we've inherited two Winter-flowering Honeysuckles in the back garden. I haven't grown honeysuckles before. (Have noticed quite a few bumble bees on it by the way, so they're a great shrub for bees in the early part of the year if anyone's interested in encouraging bees into their garden!).
The flowers are gradually starting to fade now but my question is is that I'm really not sure how far back to cut it once the flowers have all died off? There's mostly (now-faded) flowers ALL along the stems but I'm worried about cutting back too far along the stem. I've tried looking online but can't really seem to find a definitive answer. I'd be most grateful for your thoughts, please. Thanks ever so.
The flowers are gradually starting to fade now but my question is is that I'm really not sure how far back to cut it once the flowers have all died off? There's mostly (now-faded) flowers ALL along the stems but I'm worried about cutting back too far along the stem. I've tried looking online but can't really seem to find a definitive answer. I'd be most grateful for your thoughts, please. Thanks ever so.
0
Posts
In the sticks near Peterborough
I tip prune mine to keep it within bounds and to keep the height reasonable immediately after the flowers are finished. They flower on last years wood so if you leave pruning until later in the year you can prune off next years flowers. If your plants need reducing substantially I would remove a single branch rather than tiddle around with potential flowering branches which is likely to produce a thicket rather than a structured bush.