Yup. They are not supposed to look like a pillbox or be poodled. No help for changing their natural shape and habit save for hiding them by planting in the middle of a big bed.

Dan

Hi Toad,

From your description Im guessing they need a really, really good deep watering. When I moved into this house there was an old honeysuckle bush in the backyard that had, apparently, not been watered well for a long, long time. There were a few straggly, terrible looking leaves, and I assumed it was dying for some reason. Because the bush was "dead" in my opinion, when I needed a place to pile all the rock mulch I had to get rid of to plant my perennials, I mounded it up around the bushÂthree feet deep in the middle! Then we got a couple really heavy rains and I noticed the leaves perked up and a few more started growing! I wondered if it was just too dry and if it might still live if it was watered! I laid a hoseÂon top of the rock pileÂright at the center of the bush and left it run on a trickle for over an hour. The bush started growing! IÂm not a big fan of honeysuckle bushes (if they were fragrant it would change my opinion!), but the top of this thing was past the top of my privacy fence, so it helped a little bit to block the neighborÂs bare-dirt-with-3-big-dogs yard! I got rid of the rock when I could find somebody to take itÂtho it didnÂt seem to impede the growth at all once it was watered well! I kept using the "trickle" method of watering about once a month for the rest of that summer, and the thing started growing like gang bustersÂgetting lots of new growth at the bottom!

Then my problem was that the original bush had developed a base in 2 places, about 6" apart. I didnÂt really have room for even one of them, and definitely didnÂt have room for two! I cut the one all the way down to the groundÂand it came back (looking better than ever!) I cut it downÂand it came back! I cut it downÂand it came back!!! In other words, cutting yours down to the ground will not get rid of it! I even sprayed it with Roundup onceÂand it still came back! (Not lookin so good by now!) I finally sprayed it again with Roundup and inverted a large, black nursery pot over it. The steam oven effect, combined with the Roundup, finally killed it. IÂm still waiting for the old stumps to rot off, but I have Ajuga growing all around it, so theyÂre not that visible anymore!

If youÂre interested in keeping yours, I recommend cutting them down about 1/2 to 2/3rds, and then doing a really deep, trickle watering at each one. Lay the hose right in the middle of the base, turn it on to just barely a trickle, and leave it on for at least an hour.

If you want to get rid of it I recommend cutting it all the way down, water it at least some, and wait for new growth to start developing. Then spray it with Roundup and cover it with a big enough black pot! I think using black plastic might work, but I think a pot develops more of an oven effect!

With mine, because of my very limited space for perennials, I didnÂt really want a big bush taking up a bunch of space, so I "shaped" mine the way I wanted it! I call it my bonsaiÂd honeysuckle bush! I constantly kept getting new growth at the bottom, so for the last 3 years IÂve kept all the new shoots tied together pretty much up to the top of the fence. It made for a real mess, because all the leaves that were tied together died off and got all over everything! Now itÂs reached above the top of the fence and I just keep any new shoots coming up from the bottom cut off and let the tall ones keep developing. ItÂs 8-10' tall and has become a very effective screen for that corner of the yard. I thought I had a picture of it I could post, but apparently itÂs still in the cameraÂso some day IÂll post it.

Now that theyÂre well watered, I lose very, very few leaves during the summer, but one problem I do have with it is that by this time of the year it starts getting mildew. Mostly the problem has been near where the branches are tied together, and I think the mildew will be less and less of a problem now that IÂm starting to leave it branch out the way it wants to so itÂll have more air circulation. AND I always make sure it stays well watered. There are lots of plants growing around the base that get watered, but they have shallow roots, so every now and then I do a trickle watering to be sure the soil is deeply saturated.

Whether you decide to keep it or to get rid of it, good luck,
Skybird

LOL! I've been working on my reply for over an hour (while doing other things!), Dan, and I didn't refresh the post and see your reply till after I posted mine, but, as you can see from my reply above, they can be "shaped" if you're really intend on doing it! I'll have to get my most recent pictures downloaded and post the pic I took! The stems/trunks on the bottom of mine are completely bare up to about five feet, and then it branches out wide above that. I guess it looks more like a honeysuckle tree than a honeysuckle bush! I just went out and took another picture, and really looked at it, and it's over 12' this year! I wonder how tall it will eventually get! The taller, the more privacy! Works for me!!!

Skybird

I ordered 100 of these from the Soil Conservancy and planted a big hedge on the south side of the property, and put them around here and there in the rest of the border. They well serve a specific purpose: getting a hedge, fast. Beyond that.......

I have, in the intervening years, found out quite a bit about the life and habits of the honey suckle bush. Pruning them encourages them. If you don't prune them, they grow slower. When they get to be about 8- 10' high, they aren't going to get much higher. Wider, maybe, but not much higher.
All bets are off if you have some planted where they catch the underground runoff of the septic leach field. Then, you try to whack them back prune them 3x a summer.

Finally, there are a lot of nicer bushes out there. And Skybirds way of killing them works ok, or you can cut it off when dormant, drill a couple of holes in the stump, and fill those with undiluted Roundup.