Leggy pink honeysuckle

Two or three years ago I took a cutting from a pretty plant which I was told is a pink honeysuckle. It has done very well and now stands about about 2.5 metres tall. Only problem is that it now seems a bit leggy and all the leaves and flowers / berries start about halfway up and it now has quite a woody base.

I would like it to stand and flower about 1.5 metres high so my question is: if I cut it right back to maybe 1 metre off the ground would it regrow and then I could clip it regularly to maintain ideal height. If the answer is yes can I do that without risking killing it, when would a good time to hard prune it.

 

you can prune late December early January just before the buds start ... you should of got a smaller variety the one you have likes to climb its whay they do
Caprilia Imperial is a good small variety

Spruce

 

I don't know whether it's just me but I'd have said that was a shrubby Lonicera not a climbing one. Perhaps, going by " pink flowers " Lonicera Tartarica. Saying all honeysuckles cllimb is like saying all Roses climb.

 

I think KFF is correct - I just looked up Lonicera Tartarica and that seems exactly what I've got. So, still a hard pruning back in dormant December / January ??

 

Hi @barryman , it depends on what you want to do with it now you know it's not a leggy climber.

If you want to reduce its overall size then yes a hard prune next winter, bearing in mind though that you then won't get any flowers until the spring of 2021 or even 2022. Otherwise what you can do is take about a third of the shoots right out and then you'll get flowers on the other two thirds that are left. In susequent years you can just give it a light trim afterflowering in early summer. If you do this over the next three consecutive years then you'll have rejuvinated the shrub without losing all the flowers.

 

Always one !

 

It's usually me @Spruce