- Plant honeysuckle properly
- care tips
- Which location is suitable?
- The right planting distance
- When is flowering time?
- Cut honeysuckle correctly
- Water honeysuckle
- Fertilize honeysuckle properly
- hibernate
- Propagating honeysuckle
- Is honeysuckle poisonous?
- Beautiful varieties
Humility reigns supreme with honeysuckle when it comes to grooming. In contrast, the ornamental tree draws on the full when it comes to blooming flowers and autumnal fruit decorations. The following answers to frequently asked questions show you how to properly care for this all-round talent.
The beautiful honeysuckle berries are poisonous
Table of Contents
Show all- Plant honeysuckle properly
- care tips
- Which location is suitable?
- The right planting distance
- When is flowering time?
- Cut honeysuckle correctly
- Water honeysuckle
- Fertilize honeysuckle properly
- hibernate
- Propagating honeysuckle
- Is honeysuckle poisonous?
- Beautiful varieties
- Create spacious planting pits at the correct spacing for the variety
- Enrich the excavation with sifted compost, leaf soil and horn shavings (€32.93).
- Place a potted root ball in the center of each hole
- Fill in with substrate that reaches just below the first pair of leaves
- Do not plant deeper than the honeysuckle was grown in the nursery
- Water during summer drought and winter frost
- Start the season with a start fertilization in March
- Then fertilize organically with compost and horn shavings every 14 days until August
- Cut back either after flowering or in late winter
- Sunny, semi-shady position to light shade
- Nutrient-rich, humus-rich and fresh-moist soil
- Loose, well drained and without waterlogging
- Slightly acidic, neutral or minimally alkaline pH
- Cut back immediately after flowering if growth of the poisonous, red berries is not desired
- Alternatively, cut the honeysuckle into shape in late winter, in good time before the new shoots
- Arnold Red: Tartar honeysuckle with purple flowers and deep red berries; Growth height and width up to 400 cm
- Clavey's Dwarf: Densely bushy variety with a rounded stature, white-yellow flowers and red fruits; Growth height 150-250 cm
- Winter honeysuckle: Impressive rarity with creamy-white flowers from December to April; Growth height 200-300 cm
- Slope Myrtle: Evergreen creeping honeysuckle, ideal for greening slopes and as ground cover; Growth height 50-80 cm
- Polar bear: Honeysuckle with edible, blue berries and early blooms from March, beautiful in the tub; Growth height 100-150 cm
Plant honeysuckle properly
Tree nurseries are very busy in September and October, because now is the time to plant the most beautiful ornamental trees. If the honeysuckle is planted in the ground at this time of year, the flat roots will find the perfect conditions for vital growth. In these steps it succeeds:
Watering generously and spreading a layer of mulch from leaves, grass clippings or bark mulch sets the course for vital rooting until the first frost.
care tips
In order to properly care for a honeysuckle, no extensive prior gardening knowledge is required. The care program is structured as follows:
Young honeysuckles require winter protection in the year of planting by covering the young roots with leaves or brushwood.
Which location is suitable?
Settled in the right location, the maintenance effort is reduced to a minimum. Although the honeysuckle thrives in almost all locations, it shows its most beautiful side under the following conditions:
As a result, the ornamental tree is an excellent choice when long hedges extend over a stretch of varying light conditions.
The right planting distance
A majestic honeysuckle with a height and width of up to 400 cm, requires a planting distance of 250-300 cm to form an opaque hedge. More graceful shrubs come into their own with 3 plants per meter. The rather dwarf hedge myrtle forms a continuous row of plants if 5 to 7 specimens are planted per meter.
When is flowering time?
The majority of honeysuckle species and the varieties derived from them present their pretty flowers from May to June. Lonicera kamtschatica surprises with an extra early flowering from March, which subsequently produces edible berries from June. So that you don't have to do without decorative splashes of color in the garden during the cold season, the winter honeysuckle is available with a flowering period from December to April.
Cut honeysuckle correctly
Your cultivation intentions define the choice of the optimal time for pruning a honeysuckle. We have compiled the central premises for orientation below:
Every year, the profusely branching honeysuckle requires thorough pruning. Regardless of the timing of the topiary, we recommend trimming any deadwood at the base in February/March. At the same time, shoot tips that have frozen back can be shortened into the healthy wood on this occasion.
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Water honeysuckle
Under normal weather conditions, watering cans or garden hoses are rarely used. Experience has shown that the rainfall covers the water requirement. Only in the course of very dry summer periods do you water the honeysuckle thoroughly in the early morning or late evening. Overhead irrigation should be the exception, since the splashing water spoils the beauty of flowers and fruits and promotes fungal diseases.
Fertilize honeysuckle properly
A regular supply of nutrients gives a honeysuckle enough energy for rapid growth, opulent flowers and numerous berries. A mineral-organic start-up fertilization with complete fertilizer in March gets the wood on course. Then 14-day doses of compost and horn shavings ensure a constant supply of nutrients to the roots. Stop fertilizing in August so that the shoots can mature in time before winter.
hibernate
Most of the species and varieties of honeysuckle are completely hardy. In the year of planting, however, we recommend light winter protection for the young roots. If you cover the ground with needle brushwood or leaves, frost and permanent winter moisture cannot cause any damage. After a severe winter, the tips of the shoots are often frozen back. Thanks to the first-class compatibility with cuts, this shortcoming is remedied by pruning. Please keep in mind that some shrubs keep their foliage until late winter or thrive evergreen. Therefore, there is still a need for watering if there is no rain or snow.
Propagating honeysuckle
The uncomplicated care of a honeysuckle is rounded off by the equally uncomplicated propagation. You can grow more specimens with cuttings without much hassle. To do this, cut 10-15 cm long, semi-woody shoots in summer. These are defoliated in the lower half in order to then be planted in pots with poor substrate. Keeping it constantly moist in a semi-shady, warm location allows for rapid rooting. By autumn, a cutting has turned into a vital young plant and can be planted out.
Is honeysuckle poisonous?
A honeysuckle with red or black berries comes across as a poisonous beauty. Various toxic ingredients such as saponins and alkaloids are responsible. Species and varieties with blue berries serve as a sensible alternative so that you don't have to do without the robust, easy-care flowering and fruit tree in the family garden. These fruits are not particularly tasty. At least there is no health risk from them for humans and animals.
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