How to care for a winter honeysuckle plant for pretty, fragrant blooms adorning your garden all winter long

We’re used to seeing our gardens bare during the winter months, devoid of any life or growth. But it turns out with plants like winter honeysuckle it doesn’t have to be that way as this shrub flowers even in the middle of the coldest time of the year. As long as you learn how to care for your winter honeysuckle.

Winter honeysuckle is one of the few pretty flowers that bloom at Christmas and during winter in general, bringing its sweet fragrance to your garden even in the depths of frost. And we’re very grateful to this delicate shrub for injecting our gardens with some life and sweet-smelling blossoms indeed.

But to keep it looking and smelling lovely all season long there are some care tips that need to be taken care of as explained by our gardening pros.

How to care for winter honeysuckle

‘Caring for winter honeysuckle involves several key aspects, including planting, watering, fertilising, and pruning,’ starts Jack Sutcliffe, co-founder of shed manufacturer, Power Sheds.

But don’t be put off as caring for this blooming shrub is not difficult at all once you know the few easy steps that need to be taken care of. As this is one of the perfect things to grow in December, it goes without saying it’s hardy enough to withstand a lot.

What you'll need

• Garden watering can like this one from Amazon
• Pruning shears or secateurs like these from Amazon
• Fertiliser like this one from Amazon

Watering

Regularly watering your winter honeysuckle is the most crucial step in its care. 

‘Winter honeysuckle requires regular watering, with the soil needing to be moist the majority of the time. If you feel the soil has dried up, you're under-watering it,’ says Steve Chilton, garden expert at LeisureBench.

Jack adds, ‘While winter honeysuckle is drought-tolerant once established, it does benefit from consistent moisture.’

Steve Chilton

Steve is a passionate and knowledgeable garden expert with several years of experience within the field. As the director of LeisureBench, an industry-leading garden furniture company, Steve has developed strong expertise for all things nature and plants. 

Pruning

While winter honeysuckle does need to be pruned, you should hold off until the end of winter or beginning of spring to do it. As the flowering period is not the recommended time when to prune honeysuckle, which includes the winter variety.

‘You need to prune your winter honeysuckle after it's finished flowering, which is usually anytime from late winter to early spring. When pruning it, it's vital to remove any dead, damaged, diseased and crossed branches,’ Steve says.

Petar Ivanov, garden expert at Fantastic Gardeners, continues, ‘Many people use pruning to keep winter honeysuckle shrubs smaller and under control, because they can be invasive. The best time for pruning will be right after the plant has flowered. However, the plant won't benefit from excessive pruning so it'll be best if you only cut every one in three branches each year. Otherwise, the winter honeysuckle will lack flowers.’

Petar Ivanov

Petar Ivanov is one of the company's top-performing experts and manages over six teams of gardeners, delivering stunning landscape results and fostering a deep connection with nature through his work.

Fertilising

Adding fertiliser outside of the plant’s flowering season is also a useful step in encouraging further growth.

‘It should be fertilised in early spring before new growth begins using a balanced, slow-release fertiliser, with a low percentage of nitrogen and a higher percentage of potassium to encourage blooming,’ Jack advises.

Planting

By this time, you should already have your winter honeysuckle planted and blooming. However, if your plant is not doing so well, it might be because it hasn’t been planted right to begin with. 

‘It can thrive both in full sun and partial shade and it prefers soil that's not too damp. These are pretty much the only requirements for it to thrive. Any soil can work for a winter honeysuckle as long as it isn't over-acidic,’ Petar explains.

FAQs

And there you go. That’s all you need to know to grow your winter honeysuckle to beautify your garden during the cold months.