Honeysuckle advise (evergreen or deciduous) please?

I was wondering if anyone else who has honeysuckle is having problems with powdery mildew. I have evergreen (Japanese) honeysuckle on my right hand fence which doesnâ??t have any problems with it but in my front garden and also on a dividing trellis in the back garden I had opted for deciduous honeysuckle (of different species but mostly Graham Thomas) and they are all suffering from powdery mildew in a big way.
I know the leaves should be removed and destroyed but in my case that would mean no leaves on the plants at all!! I was thinking that as the evergreen variety are doing so well weather I should get rid of the deciduous varieties and just plant evergreens. Does anyone have any opinions on this please?
Thanks
Alex

 

Hi Alex

I'm afraid some honeysuckles seem to be martyrs to mildew. I have the deciduous honeysuckle 'Graham Thomas' growing in my front garden. It starts the season well, looks very lush, produces loads of flowers at midsummer and then dwindles into a nasty mess. Fortunately honeysuckle can regenerate from a fairly severe prune, so I now chop it back hard after the main flush of flowers. It means that I sacrifice a few flowers and have bare stems for a while, but fat leaf buds start appearing very quickly and a good haircut means that the plant doesn't get straggly. It's worth giving your plants a good mulch with compost if you decide to do the chop.

The evergreen honeysuckles do seem to have fewer problems, in my experience. They also flower for longer and of course you have greenery all year round. However, they need to be kept in check if they are not to take over completely.

Personally I like and grow both sorts!

 

Clare thanks for the heads up. They look awful now whereas the Japanese look really good. Don’t mind the extra work of cutting them back so I may go down that avenue next year if the spray I brought doesn’t work.

Alex