How far from the fence will the trellis be positioned in the raised bed? If there is a little bit of distance, the visual effect would probably be fine. Have you thought about planting the honeysuckle against the fence, and using the trellis for something else? I used to have a picket fence which was covered with a thick blanket of honeysuckle (mounded on top of the fence). Passersby were always complimenting me on the way it looked. I did have to do freequent trimming to keep it looking neat, but it was very pretty. Lorna

Hi, I just cut back a honeysuckle, which did grow like crazy! I trained it up a trellis, but it wasn't strong enough and kept bending over. I don't know what it would do, if it wasn't on a trellis, although I've seen them growing that way. Can't see how it would be 10 feet tall without one. Did you mean Barberry for the other choice? If so, that one has lots of prickers on it. Hope this helps! I can't wait to get started although I doing lots of clean up and prep!

I have about 250 feet of honeysuckle hedge that I planted, using bare root from the soil conservancy. Mine is about 8 - 10 foot tall, higher than I can easily prune. Um, er, this thing is a weed. If you prune it, you encourage it, and what ever you do, don't fertilize it, or you'll be pruning the thing all summer. Unless you're fond of pruning, what I would do is whack the thing back to a bit lower than the height you want - about now would be fine. Don't fertilize it at all, and water it at a minimum. It will still grow and flourish, just not as fast. With mine, I go for benign neglect, but its in the back and between me and a cow pasture. I generally take a pass along my side of the thing with electric pruners once a summer. The top and far side, well..... the cows don't care, and I keep my eyes averted.

Won't the plant already be pushing out new growth by that time? I don't want to have a flush of new growth and then cut it back to the ground, right? I can't remember when the vine does flush out, but end of April sounds a little late. I have a lot of plants growing in the garden by then. I would agree that now is probably too soon. We will have freezing temps still to get through. So, I take it that as soon as I prune it, it will stimulate the vine to push out new growth during a warm enough spell and then a subsequent cold spell would freeze all the new growth?