Hey all,

Can anyone offer some advice about pruning at this time of year?

I have a HUGE old Hall's Honeysuckle on a post at my front door. Well it's really overly large and I need to cut it back severely. I have had several of these plants and I know that even if I cut it all the way back to just the woody sticks, it will come back. We even transplanted a huge one that was cut down to just about 12" tall of woody stems and the thing is huge again. I want to take the hedge shears to it and wonder if I do so now, would this be the best time? I'd like it to begin putting out green shoots right away again from it's naked woody stems so we don't have a really ugly front porch all summer. I'm thinking since this is growth season, that should happen as long as it's kept watered. Any input?

On the herbs, I have a lovely large herb pot with 2 different lavenders (finally I was able to grow them without killing them off!), tarragon and marjoram. It's the marjoram that I think I need to prune right now. All has been in this pot for just 2 years and the marjoram got huge this year. Lots of blooms and it's now looking a little ragged (yellowed and spent) in the leaves that are closest to the soil. The blooms are not exactly fully dried up yet but I wonder when should it prune this guy? And how hard should I prune it? 30%, 50% of the plant or something else?

Also on the lavender, they have been putting out blooms for months now. They too both have some spent, yellow tinged leaves closer to the soil. I don't think that yellowing is from overwatering as I only flood every other day when it's 100 degrees plus in this 22" container and the soil is a well drained gravel/potting soil mix. Also this yellowing has only now just appeared, post bloom and post high heat. Do I just remove the spent blooms or do they also need a good hard prune (30% or 50% of the plant) when all the blooms have quit?

The tarragon seems more tender and hasn't bloomed yet. In fact it froze to the ground each year despite being covered but it bounces back and grows each year.

Hoping for some good advice on these.