What to do with this Cape Honeysuckle?

9 years ago

I have a large Cape Honeysuckle in front of my patio wall that was shaped into an ugly rectangle by the previous homeowner. I'm preparing to re-landscape my entire yard into a drought-tolerant garden (hence the dead grass in the foreground). I need to decide what to do with the Cape Honeysuckle. It stays green and produces pretty orange flowers with zero watering, so rather than removing, it I'm considering keeping it if I can make it look better. I also read that Cape Honeysuckle can be difficult to remove, which is another reason I'm considering keeping at least part of it since it is already very well established. (at the moment you don't see a lot of flowers because every time the gardener trims it back into a rectangle, the flowers get cut off. right now it is in between trimmings.)

My idea is to divide it into several (maybe 4) separate smaller bushes that I could thin out and reshape by pruning. This obviously would require removal of quite a bit of the bush. Do you recommend doing this and if so, what sort of gardening tools should I use?

Or what are your ideas and opinions along the lines of salvage vs removal?

Thanks
MissLivvy

This post was edited by misslivvy on Tue, Sep 9, 14 at 18:51

Comments (6)

lazy_gardens
9 years ago
It's really a scrambling, sprawling almost-vine. Can you build a trellis for it to climb onto?

If they haven't been allowed to spread underground they aren't hard to remove completely.
misslivvy
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi Lazygardens, I did see where people have trained them to grow as a vine with a trellis. This one was trained into a big fat bush. Do you think it could be reworked into a vine? I am not experienced enough to really know. I also don't know what kind of tools I'd need to prune it down to a great extent. Do you have any advice there? The roots I'm guessing are pretty deep since the plant has been there for many years as far as I know. Thanks!
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misslivvy
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi Lazygardens, Here is a side view of my Cape Honeysuckle so you can also see the depth front to back. Thanks!
emerogork
9 years ago
To let it grow up onto a trellis would hide the porch, yes? Is this what you want?

What if you were to chop out all except the far left then let it grow vertically, maybe you can find some other plants for the rest of the space.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
can be difficult to remove, which is another reason I'm considering keeping at least part of it since it is already very well established.

==>>> not really a reason to keep it.. in my estimate ...

i would get rid of it..

if you were going to redo the living room.. would you leave the 4 inch purple shag ... because you heard its hard to remove carpeting... or that 70's olive green linoleum counter in the kitchen ???

be done with it ... sharpen your shovel.. and start digging ....i am not familiar enough with your location ... to provide replacement suggestions ... but a pic of the whole facade... might get you some idea of which direction to head ...

do keep in mind.. new plantings.. are NEVER drought resistant .. they have to get ESTABLISHED before they become so ...

i wish you luck ....

ken
misslivvy
Original Author
9 years ago
hi ken_adrian, you may be correct however my main concern about attempting to remove completely is that it might keep coming back anyway. i thought i read that it was difficult to eradicate. it is very established -- not sure how deep are the roots -- but it's been there for years. I also think the orange flowers are pretty, so I thought to try to work with it creatively. I think if I did something creative that would transform it I would appreciate the plant a lot more. if it's easy to remove, then that is a different story of course!