I am new to this area, where it freezes in the winter occasionally for brief periods. I am thinking of growing the “John Clayton” honeysuckle on my chain-link fence. How far apart would I plant each one, and what will happen to them during the winter? I am from San Francisco, where we didn’t have winter or summer.
Lonicera sempervirens “John Clayton” is a semi-evergreen twining vine with showy, unscented flowers that are trumpet shaped and range in color from orange-yellow to scarlet.
During very cold winters, the plants will lose their leaves, but during standard winter weather they should retain most of their leaves.
Depending upon how quickly you want coverage for your fence (the more plants, the faster the fill-in), you can space your honeysuckles about 8 inches apart.
I may buy a red smoke tree. What does it like? Does it bloom? Someone told me it grows to 12 feet and flowers in summer and some leaves fall and some stay all winter. Is that true and what about pruning it?
Cotinus coggygria or the Smokebush or Smoketree grows to between 10 and 15 feet tall and wide. It is usually an unkempt-looking plant and although it can be grown as a specimen tree, it is often preferred in a mass planting or shrub border.
If trained as a tree, it needs little pruning except to remove any winter damage each spring. If grown as a shrub, it will need to have any winter-killed wood removed each spring along with some occasional pruning to try to keep the outline more regular.
Since the plant blooms on old wood, pruning will reduce flowering. Some gardeners grow this plant for its foliage rather than its blooms. In this instance, the plant is cut back to the ground or close to it in late winter each year.
This forces vigorous new growth with larger-than-usual foliage. There will be no blooms at all with this treatment and the plant will not reach its maximum size.
The plant is deciduous, so the leaves do fall off each winter. The foliage color depends on which variety you grow, some are greener, some are purpler leafed.
Fall coloring also seems to vary somewhat from plant to plant and depending on the growing conditions each year. It prefers a full-sun location and is very tolerant of most average growing conditions except that it will not tolerate a wet, soggy ground.
Celeste Lindsay is a WSU Master Gardener. Send questions to lindsay8@pacifier.com.
