Can You Cut Honeysuckle Down to the Ground?

Honeysuckle also produces fall fruits that sustain bird populations.

Honeysuckle is a perennial climbing vine or thick bush. It is considered invasive and aggressive and has the habit of growing suckers and offshoots. The plant is a favorite of hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. The sweet nectar is the genesis of the name and the cupped colorful flowers are prolific during the summer season. Some varieties of honeysuckle grow wild in the United States but most are brought in for ornamental cultivation. Vines lose leaves in cool weather and revive in spring.

General Care

Honeysuckle grows in full sun areas where the soil is well drained and richly organic. The vines can remain evergreen in warm climates and grow all season long. In cooler regions where a true winter occurs the leaves will begin to fall off in fall and continue to fall through the season. Honeysuckle is drought tolerant after it is established and is a vigorous grower that can cover a trellis in just a couple of seasons.

Winter Care

Honeysuckle plants do not need special care in winter in the southern parts of the United States. Areas where temperatures routinely reach below freezing can cause the canes to die back. The plants should be heavily mulched in fall to protect the roots of the plants from cold damage. The plant doesn't need to be covered in winter or cut back, but fall pruning will prevent the canes from being exposed to the cold and will promote flowering.

Pruning the Vines

Lonicera doesn't need pruning and should not be pruned until it is two years old. However, it is such a quick grower and invasive that pruning to maintain shape or take out sucker volunteers is appropriate in fall or very early spring. Pruning should be done after the flowers are finished forming. Overgrown plants can be cut down to 2 feet from the ground to encourage flowering and bushing. Honeysuckles that flower on the current seasons growth should not be cut down. Only those that flower off the older growth early in the season should be pruned back by one third after flowering on an annual basis. The only thing that is cut to the ground is the suckers that appear at the base of the cine.

Pruning the Bushes

The shrub-like honeysuckle can be limbed up to make a tree shape. This means removing the growth at the base and even at the ground to encourage a trunk appearance. There are both evergreen and deciduous shrubs in the honeysuckle family. Deciduous shrubs should have old and weak stems cut away from the base to encourage new growth. Evergreen shrubs can be cut back within 6 inches of the ground in early spring to stimulate thick growth.

References

• Royal Horticultural Society: Honeysuckle
• Floridata: Lonicer Sempervirens
• University of Connecticut: Lonicer Macackii