Woody Honeysuckle

My Honeysuckle has lost all it's folage from the base of the plant upwards say about 3ft of non folage and it also seems to be spreading along the top and there are very few flowers.

 

a lot of them do this ... thats why I never bother planting them unless I get told to by the client ... they look good for a while then become woody and gnarled ....

suppose it's ok if you plant a few clematis to grow with them in the same space

from what I have seen, they do better in semishade

 

As honeysuckle is a climbing plant, it sounds as though yours is just doing what a honeysuckle does - climbing, and in the process they put on lots of top growth and leave behind bare stems.

There are two ways you can tackle this:

1 - Prune the whole thing down to a few inches above ground and start again, but that way you do risk not having any flowers the following year.

2 - Each year prune back some of the stems to within a few inches of the ground, as new shoots grow from below that cut they will give you young growth further down the plant.

 

mine does the same plant somthing evergreen at the base. OR do what my mum does has a honeysuckle on her house wall and has planted a lavender at the base of it combined with a very small leaved ivy that grows very slowly and is not invasive .

Spruce

 

I gave mine a severe haircut before moving house in spring time a couple of years ago. Its now got loads of new shoots on it and is doing very well.