Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold' reducing

Hi

I'm a very basic Gardner with very basic knowledge so bear with me..

I have a mature Lonicera nitida Baggesens gold which is beautiful but has grown way too big for my small garden. It's about 5 feet in diameter and about 4 feet high. I don't want to get rid of it but it needs reducing. Can I literally cut it in half ? I ideally would like to get inside it and cut away the left half of the bush. Obviously I would be left with a side that had no leaves at all, but would leaves grow again for next year?

Tony



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I've cut back the ordinary green version of Lonicera nitida pretty hard in the past, and it always comes back good.

 

I have one of these plants which got far too big due to us being too afraid to get to grips with it and keep it in check. Last year I decided that we should take it right back to a more manageable size for our small garden and if it didn't recover it would just have to go. We took it back to almost half it's size and yes it did look rather bald and sparse but it wasn't long before new growth began to emerge and it is looking pretty good now.

 

I agree with the others who have said it is fine to cut it back. Think of how honeysuckle grows in the wild. In the dappled shade of woodland it can grow up to the sunny treetops but in a hedge it is regularly cut and still scrambles and flowers. I'm pretty sure if you cut it hard now it will flower this year.