Transplant Honeysuckle bush

My honeysuckle bush is not doing what I thought it would do when I placed it where it is...not I need to put something there that isnt' just a flat mess! Has anyone tried to transplant a large Honeysuckle bush> I think my forsythia might be a goner as far as transplanting it appears the root ball has started to expand under the house!
the honeysuckle on far right and forsythia far left. Both need to go...too close to house. Redod sod etc to give me room to plant something more substantial, thinking of a Serbian Spruce which is supposed to not get too tall/wide
  25 answers
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 13, 2013
    Your honeysuckle looks just fine to me, Tanya. It's doing what honeysuckles do. They are fairly amenable to transplanting, you'll just have to try to get as much of the rootball as possible, and keep it well-watered when you do so. You might want to wait until fall when it starts to go dormant rather than try this in the heat of summer. It might be easy just to root some new cuttings from your forsythia rather than try to save the plant if it is growing the way you say.
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 13, 2013
    @Douglas Hunt ....didn't think of doing cuttings I've never done those before...I am so far backwards in going this...I used to plant something then learn about it...now I'm trying to be more proactive and ask and study twice and plant once! hehe I dont care so much about saving the forsythia, though I hate it when something like that doesn't get replanted...someone somewhere using it! Do you think if I cut off a portion of the rootball it might survive for a friend of mine who would really love to have it,I attached a few pictures not sure you can see the rootball that is trying to grow under the house...is there a way to say part of it?
    comment photo
    comment photo
  • Sidney Sidney on Jul 14, 2013
    Honeysuckle is not a bush, it's a terribly invasive vine. It will eventually kill anything on wich it is allowed to grow. I don't like it, so I'd just get rid of it all together.
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 14, 2013
    Forsythia basically grows like a weed, Tanya. It wouldn't surprise me if it would survive whatever you do to it.
  • Mary-Jo  Westbrook Mary-Jo Westbrook on Jul 14, 2013
    another option is to just cut it down near the ground, then transplant it, and let it start over.
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    I wonder @Mary-Jo Westbrook if it has to do with where you live? here I just cut basically down to the ground in the winter right now and it grows back. I haven't found it to curl around or attach to anything? does yours?
  • Cindy tustin Cindy tustin on Jul 14, 2013
    Honeysukle is so invasive it will grow under your siding and destroy it. We have honey suckle here se kansas and if it gets near home or equipment sheds it is sprayed. I have one growing on a stump and i like it our timber is full and when it blooms the fragrance is wonderful. Just spreads to quick.
  • Cindy tustin Cindy tustin on Jul 14, 2013
    To root forsythia pull a limb to the ground lay a couple of rocks or wire to hold it to the soil it will root sometimes several places when it has roots just cut it from the mother. When I plant forsythia I put my plants about 6 ft apart and use this system to build a hedge.
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    Wonder if I have sort of hybrid because it has not yet done any of that just grown straight up and it gets to about 10 feet high then it bushes out!
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    I think maybe i will cut the main part of the rootball and give to my friend and maybe she can doctor ir!
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    @Douglas Hunt now that I got you on the line its hard to tell but I'm trying to pull things away from being very close to my house. They were all growing within an 18 inches of the house. Now I have created a nice full bed that is about 6 feet wide (ooooopso accidently put 16 feet feet) am working on filling all that in to add to my curb appeal. These roses are Florabundas and tea roses and I love them but they are very old and there is evidence of old boring bugs in it. #1Would you move the roses out away from the house (in the same flower bed) and and hope they are salvageanle? #2 Leave them there and plant there complimenting the curb appeal, #3 completely move the roses out to a better spot and just redo the whole bed from back to front and side to side? Open to any and all suggestions. I've always wanted windowboxes on that huge window, maybe someday adding a round or odd shaped window in the long part that is so dark. What I really want and someday WILL have is a real porch!
  • Mary-Jo  Westbrook Mary-Jo Westbrook on Jul 14, 2013
    I finally gave mine away- I had no good spot for it or time to spend with it- I hear it's doing well where it is, though!
  • Kathy Kathy on Jul 14, 2013
    Last year I trimmed my forsythia and stuck several of the branches in a bucket of water and placed it on my front door step so I could keep an eye on the water level. One of the branches rooted and I planted it in the fall. It is doing really well and is already bushing out.
  • Becky Hansen Becky Hansen on Jul 14, 2013
    I would like to plant a Honeysuckle on a trellis, so I talked to one of the many Master Gardeners in my town. She suggested a Honeysuckle called "Major Wheeler" because it doesn't spread out of control like most other Honeysuckles. Maybe you would like to try a different variety!
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    What is funny is that there IS a trellis in the middle of this honey suckle! haha. It isn't going out of control much I kind of wish it would grow longer tendrils so I could have it be climb and almost make a porch of honeysuckle. My folks used to do it with lattice and grapes but I didn't want the mess of grapes by the front door. But the biggest thing I'll miss when I move it is the heavenly SMELL when its hot and we have watered it the fragrance spread and stop at our front door and is just so awesome I think I'm going to try it over by the cottage if the wants to take this...has anyone kept a honeysuckle in a large pot? #honesuckle #containergardne
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    Thanks for the answers, but I'm still hoping for more ideas. I've never really done one of these question things...I added a question at the very end...has anyone ever tried growing honeysuckle in a large container?
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    Oh and if you can see all of the little yellow buds those are actualy honeysuckle coming can't wait!
  • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Jul 14, 2013
    I would personally be concerned about plants so close to your homes foundation and siding. I like to plant my shrubs about 3 feet out from the house to prevent wear and tear (scratching etc.) on the siding. This also gives them lot of room to grow and keeps them out from under the overhang. and out of the foundation I like to add a base of pea gravel in the walking area inbetween the planting bed and the homes foundation which gives my husband a place to put the ladder and a place to access to the roof for gathering sticks, repairs to the roof or chimney and ice removal. I also like to make my beds curved rather than straight lines. Just more pleasant to look at.
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    Yes @donnaallgaierlamberti@gmail.com that was one of the reason I started this message, this and the moving of the forsythia in another. Both of them have rootballs that are growing up under my foundation so I going to move them I just hate to kill a plant that has done nothing wrong to me (not really that is tongue in cheek) and asking about moving them if done easily. The previous owners only had an 18 inch planting bed and I have bumped it out to 6 feet, trying to decide if I should get ride of the roses or use them but move them they are soooooo old! what would you do with the roses? I cut them to 18 inches in Feb and they still have to be kept cut down as left along they would be long and leggy and grow over the top of my house!
  • The honeysuckle is not going to hurt your foundation and neither is the forsythia. The forsythia is just not that good looking most times of the year and should be planted with other things to hide it during the "off" season. My question to you is "why not grow the honeysuckle on the nice looking metal arbor?" this would make a very cool entrance to your patio or front door?
  • Tanya Peterson Felsheim Tanya Peterson Felsheim on Jul 14, 2013
    I've been trying to do just that @The Garden Frog with C Renee but the tendrils of the honeysuckle will only branch out the top about 3 feet or so...wont' go over the entire 5 foot trellis its next to...so going to give it a spot it deserves and has the honor due to it! hehe oh and the Forsythia, when I really trim it right (will fix it up soon) does make a nice looking bonsai type tree
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 15, 2013
    Tanya, if you've gone to all the trouble to establish a wider bed, I would definitely move the roses forward. I'm not sure about growing honeysuckle in a large pot, but if so, you would definitely have a tuteur or something for it to grow on. While I know Japanese honeysuckle has a glorious fragrance, it is wildly invasive, at least in the southeast. The "Major Wheeler" that Becky recommended is a cultivar of our native honeysuckle and does not have that issue. It's not fragrant, but it is a hummingbird magnet.
  • White Oak Studio Designs White Oak Studio Designs on Jul 15, 2013
    Do you have a place to put the roses? A trellis or a fence or the like? Are they worth moving-meaning do they still bloom nicely? (I'd give anything to be able to have roses....but we have Japanese Beatles and they would be eaten alive. I've only owned one rose and it was an old Heritage variety from my grandmothers farm -it always grew against the windmill.) I dug up a cutting, planted it and it took off.) Or, maybe if you don't want to deal with them, maybe you could offer them for free on Craig's List. "You dig and the rose is yours"...kind of offer. I've done a ton of transplanting (always early spring or mid-fall in Michigan. Lot of much, lots of watering in ) Maybe someone else can comment on moving roses....
  • Becky Hansen Becky Hansen on Jul 16, 2013
    I'm disappointed to see that the Major Wheeler honeysuckle doesn't have a fragrance. I didn't know that! Thanks for that info Douglas. Could you tell me what other issues that particular honeysuckle has? Tanya, if you remove the Forsythia do you have something else in mind for that spot in your garden?
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 16, 2013
    @Becky Hansen I mistyped. I should have written the comment as I have now corrected it, "does not have that issue." Our native honeysuckles are great plants and the fact that they are not fragrant should not dissuade people from planting them.