Honeysuckle

[Equiem89]

I asked the advice of someone of what to plant next to a pole in the garden and they suggested a honeysuckle. So I went out and bought one and did as it said on the label and planted 40cm from the post. It's now long enough to trail round the post but it looks rubbish. Have attached a picture. What am I doing wrong?

[traviata]

What were you hoping for?

It looks fine to me, just like a fairly recently planted young plant. By the end of the summer it could be twice that height. By next year it could be 6ft high and bushier, depending on what kind of honeysuckle it is.

[MyUsernameDoesntHaveNumbers]

What do you mean? What are you doing wrong?
It looks like a young honeysuckle next to a post.

[Equiem89]

I just thought it looked forced, like it's being dragged across.
Sorry I have no knowledge of gardening, I have just moved in my with boyfriend and was never allowed to plant so much as a pot in my parents precious garden

[Equiem89]

It's a belgica honeysuckle

[horizontilting]

Do you mean it looks like there's too much space between plant and pole, despite you carefully following the 40cm instructions? It should be fine as it gets bigger and bushier and spreads in all directions. Enjoy your new garden, I was a complete novice and it took me a while to get used to feeling I couldn't do things and work out what I really wanted. Sit out here lots in the sun, that'll help you get to know it ;)

[MelanieCheeks]

It'll be fine, it grows like billy-oh!

[Timeforabiscuit]

It will take a few years to mature and bush out but looks like its off to a good start!

If you want some instant gratification gardening ,get some young courgette plants, they get massive and you can harvest the same year you plant.

[Kwirrell]

I can see what you mean. However a little patience and you will find it looks much better as the season progresses. You could try to keep pinching out the very top.growth. This will encourage side shoots, which will make a better shaped plant. The side shoots can be trained around the bottom of the pole. For this year you could, for a quick fix, plant some climbing nasturium seeds around the base of the pole. They will grow in old soil and will disguise it while the honeysuckle gets established.

[Equiem89]

Thank you! So helpful.
Also do you see all those green shoots in the soil. That was brand new compost. We hung a bird feeder on the pole and lots of seeds fell on the soil, have they sprouted. I've tried pulling most of it out but it keeps growing back.
I've got some nice pots to look at while everything gets established

[Equiem89]

Kwirrell sorry what do you mean by pinching out?

[dolkapots]

I bought one last year (for trellis) and it did look somehow wrong until the end of the growing season when it bushed out. This year it looks great! Just be patient

[Equiem89]

Here's the garden. It's not massive but it gets lots of sun. The one in the middle is a prunus cisterna. It's branches aren't standing up anymore, it's gone a bit droopy.
I was thinking of planting some herbs in that triangle shaped bed.

[Equiem89]

Prunus cistena!

[Kwirrell]

For this first year, it would be better not to let the honeysuckle run away and get too tall. To cover the pole you want to try and encourage more branches to come out from the base of the plant. If just cut of the tips, of that top branch, about one inch, it will put there energy into making more side shoots. Just do it for a the first month to 6 weeks. This time of year the honeysuckle will be mike a minute. Also, the branch below it could be moved down a bit. With most climbing plants, if you try to pull the branches gently into a horizontal position they will sprout out from the branch.

The nightmare of bird feeders. Lovely to see the birds but they are such messy little buggers.

[Kwirrell]

Prunus need masses of water. Mine always look a bit sad this time of year. Try giving it a good drink in the cool of the evening. I leave my hose running for about 10 minutes under my prunus a few times each week.This year your new plants will need lots of watering while their roots are relatively close to the surface. After the first year you can go a bit easier on the watering so that they establish deep roots.

[Ferguson]

Hopefully it will be like this eventually:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/26/gardens-honeysuckle-climbers-dan-pearson

[CruCru]

Prune it back in February to encourage it to get more bushy.

[plimsolls]

Slight derail of thread- hope you don't mind OP- is it possible to grow honeysuckle from a pot? I'd love to have honeysuckle around our back door and garden wall but the area is paved. Will it grow well out of a large planter or not so much? Thank you.

[Kwirrell]

I have some pots and they do Ok. Quite easy to train around a trellis

[plimsolls]

Thank you Kwirell

[Equiem89]

Hello, me again. Is it dying? The stems near the bottom have gone from the purple colour to brow. Have attached a picture. Also have attached a picture of a lavender, is this dying as well? The purple flowers are drying up.
I feel so silly asking what are probably such novice questions

[Kwirrell]

The lavender looks OK to me. The flowers could be dying off naturally I think at the end of its flowering season. You could cut some of it and put in a vase (no water). Did you buy it from a garden centre. They often force them to flower early to attract buyers and therefore they die of earlier in the season. It will be fine again next year.

The Honeysuckle looks like rain damage, has it been very wet and cold where you are. You could try trimming the damaged bits and you will probably see it sprout. Same with the lavender.

What part of the country are you

[Kwirrell]

This has been such a weird year for plants, poor things don't know whether to flower or hibernate. Don't worry too much, I am sure that a few sunny days will se them right.

[Equiem89]

I'm in Essex. It's been nice and warm today but the past month it's rained nearly every day and sometimes so heavily.
There are also some leaves on the honeysuckle which have gone that yellowy colour. It's grown lots recently so maybe it's not dead

[Equiem89]

Better picture of the leaves, is that white stuff mound? It's on the leaves and the stems.
My poor plant