The honeysuckle is a native shrub from the honeysuckle family. Honeysuckles look particularly good in natural hedges. The shrub does not place any great demands on location and care. An occasional pruning is completely sufficient.
When and how should you prune honeysuckles?
Honey cherries can be pruned after flowering in June or in fall, depending on whether berries are desired. Annual shoots, sickly or dried branches can be removed all year round. Cut offshoots for propagation in late summer.
Pruning the honeysuckle after flowering
Many gardeners cut back the honeysuckle immediately after it blooms in early June. Pruning removes almost all spent flowers and thus also future berries.
Pruning in summer only makes sense if you don't want any of the mostly poisonous berries to ripen on the bushes.
If small children or pets are often in the garden, this can reduce the risk of poisoning from honeysuckle.
Pruning the honeysuckle in autumn
If you value the decorative berries and also want to provide food for the birds in the garden, you should only cut honeysuckles in autumn. This is especially true for the edible blue honeysuckle.
The honeysuckle also tolerates generous pruning very well. Simply cut down anything that bothers you so that the berry hedge stays in shape.
The berry bushes can grow up to three meters high. You should therefore cut back honeysuckle cherries growing on the fence every year so that the plants don't get too tall and stay nice and dense.
Care cutting throughout the year
To care for the shrubs, you can use scissors (€14.00 on Amazon) throughout the gardening year. Protruding shoots can be cut continuously. You should also remove sickly and dry branches as quickly as possible.
Cut offshoots for propagation
The honeysuckle is propagated via planters or cuttings. Propagation via cuttings is best done in late summer.
- cut half-woody shoots
- shorten to 15 to 20 centimeters
- remove lower leaves
- insert into loose garden soil
- keep moist
- plant the following year
The honeysuckle cutting has formed roots when the first new leaves become visible at the top. The bushes propagated in this way are transplanted the following year to a sunny or shady location with slightly moist soil.
Tip
Honey cherries require little care other than pruning. They cannot tolerate the soil drying out completely. Mulch the soil beneath the shrubs to keep the soil moist and discourage weed emergence.