Growing honeysuckle from collected seed
Q
Can I do anything with the red seeds on my honeysuckle, such as sowing them to grow more plants? Rob Marshall, Tiverton, Devon
AThe red ‘seeds’ on your honeysuckle are actually the berries containing the seeds and you can indeed use these seeds to grow new plants.
Just one word of warning, though: seeds of named varieties of honeysuckle may not produce plants identical to the parent plant.
Extract the seeds from the berries, which is a messy and fiddly job but necessary for success.
You then need to sow the seeds into pots of loam-based seed compost, which is more stable and long-lasting than peat-based composts.
Honeysuckle seeds need exposure to cold conditions to germinate, so the pots need to be kept in a place where they will be subject to all but the most extreme winter conditions.
A coldframe is ideal or they can simply be placed outside, perhaps in the lee of a wall to stop the compost from getting too wet.
Seeds will germinate next spring with the onset of warmer weather.
If you have sown one seed per pot, then simply pot the seedlings into larger pots as the summer progresses. If you put multiple seeds per pot then it is worth potting them individually as soon as they are large enough to handle.
Leave the seedlings potted for the first growing season, planting them out either that autumn or the following spring when they are large enough to fend for themselves.