Honeysuckle

For years I happily ran over any honeysuckles I found in winter with a pair of shears. They look so fuzzy when you are attacking everything else on the pergola that it’s hard to resist, but recently I learned we are supposed to leave all that old growth alone so it can bloom the following year and prune instead, after flowering in mid summer. Obviously my Italian honeysuckle ( Lonicera caprifolium) can’t read; it flowers profusely when I choose to keep it within bounds.