I have honeysuckle vines that have grown into a giant bush, interwoven
with a potato vine that has never blossomed much. I'm wondering when
the appropriate time to cut this beast back would be?

Thanks.

-F

paghatspam-me-not

My vining honeysuckles bloom until autumn, so get trimmed back shortly
after bloom is finished, or any time after leaf-fall, not necessarily
every year. If you have spring-blooming honeysuckles they'd be pruned
earlier, whenever there's an interuption in the flowering, or whenever the
berries shrivel or get mushy & are no longer decorative enough to be worth
delaying the pruning any longer. If pruned the "wrong" time of year that
won't do any real harm though more buds would be lost. Every few years,
the oldest woodiest of the vines should be removed to right near the
ground.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com

david j bockman

Presuming you wish to enjoy the flowering, immediately after flowering. If
you have no wish to see the flowers this year, anytime during dormancy is
fine.

Dave

pam - gardengal

Dave, I'm not sure that when you prune has any bearing on flower production.
I prune all my honeysuckles hard in early March - at the same time I prune
my clematis - and there is no interruption of flowering.
pam - gardengal

david j bockman

Hi Pam,

I was picturing the 'cut right back to the ground' kind of pruning. )

Dave

pam - gardengal

I suppose that could affect flowering :-) My "hard pruning" involves
leaving the essential framework of the vine and cutting back all the excess
tendrils. All are growing on fences so the framework ranges from 4' to 6' -
not quite as drastic as cutting to the ground.

pam

Thanks for the input here folks. I do plan on leaving a great deal of
the vines in tact, but wacking back the bulk. Kind of a haircut
instead of a beheading.

-Fleemo