cutting back honeysuckle

Hi - I moved into a house recently which has a nice honeysuckle growing over a pergola. However it's growing all down the fence in the side passage and is obstructing the way in and out, as it's so bushy. What we'd ideally like to do is get rid of the bit that's in the side passage without damaging the main part on the pergola. Can we do this, and if so, is this an okay time of year to do it? and any tips for how we should go about it? It still has a few flowers on it. Thanks!

 

Hello fiona, if you want to completely remove the honeysuckle from the side passage, you might as well just get it done now. If the other section on the pergola looks OK leave it alone, but if it's getting a bit thick with old woody growth, you could try and untangle it, remove a lot of the old stuff and then tie some newer fresh growth to the pergola.

As a rule, the deciduous honeysuckle should be cut back after flowering if it needs it, (but you can do it more or less whenever you can get around to it until next Spring!)
The evergreen honeysuckle can be given a clip with shears in the Spring to tidy it up.

 

Hello Fiona

Honeysuckle is fairly forgiving stuff and you should be able to chop out the bit you don't want without causing any damage to the main part on the pergola whatsoever. You can be quite brutal with your pruning if necessary. The plant will regenerate, even from old wood. Do the pruning now, before the winter sets in. Get your plant off to a good start next season by giving it a good mulch with compost.

 

I've always found honeysuckle to be tough stuff.
Chop all the stuff you don't want and keep the bits you do.
It will all be back - sooner than you wanted it.

 

Thanks so much all of you. Really helpful. I will get chopping!