No they aren't supposed to turn white but they can get rather washed out. One reason I don't like them much. They look sick to me.

You don't say where you live, or whether this is in the ground or in a pot, so we can't help with watering advice. Certainly in my climate they need no watering at all. Nor can we say if the bleaching is due to heat/sun.

BTW, for anyone not familiar with this shrub, we are talking about Lonicera nitida 'Baggesen's Gold'. Mine got too big and I cut it down but it takes a long time to kill it as it shoots from the stump. No great loss. I had it on the allotment and grew it from a cutting. Very easy to propagate.

I'm in Western Oregon. They are in the ground. I have been watering them every other day. I'll reduce the watering. This time of year, it's close to zero rain for another month or so.

I totally agree with Gardengal, Lemon Beauty is much nicer than BG.

The goal is to create a complete (can't see thru at all) visual barrier for a future water feature and sitting area. Also, I like the "untidy" natural growth look, like uncontrolled Forsythia. Google images don't really show how full Lemon Beauty grows, nor how tall (i.e., at least 6 feet, eventually).

Your original post didn't mention that you want a 6 foot barrier. At that height, if left unpruned, Lonicera nitida tends to fall over and become a mounding, twiggy thicket. It's not really comparable to Forsythia since the branches are much less strong and sturdy. It would need regular clipping to keep it solid and tight at that height otherwise the tendency would be for the bushes to fall apart in the centre. Lemon Beauty has a more spreading habit than BG and would not make a good hedge in my view.

This must be those white-leaved shrubs I keep seeing!

I'm in NW Oregon and have several Baggeson's Gold planted beneath fir trees. At six feet, mine arch rather than flop and work well as an evergreen privacy screen in semi-wild, understory areas. We love our privacy, and while we have five acres, one neighbor's house is within view. Baggesen's Gold grows easily from cuttings, so it is a cheap and easy solution. Of course, I have enough room for all the choice plants I want AND those that are less prized. I've found that Baggesen's Gold do best in fairly open shade -- they do bleach out with too much sun -- too little and they revert to more green.

Yesterday I saw a large planting of BG in the middle of a roundabout (traffic circle?) They looked fine in a large area when allowed to develop into a naturally mounding thicket. But I still wouldn't recommend them for a 6 foot barrier around a water feature and sitting area since that sounds like a more formal and restricted area than would suit BG. Without a picture of the area, of course, I may be totally wrong about it.

I've decided to re-do a lot of the area next spring. I'll leave the BG and add other things to the area. I'll be posting in the Design area here in a future month. Floral I like the untended wild look, and there is a broad area to use for multi-layering. And I'd rather have boots on a roundabout than trunks in a traffic circle!

Fine if you have the space to give BG its head. I had got the impression this was destined for a restricted area. Now I am BG sensitised I saw some more today planted at the top of an 8 foot retaining wall along a road. It hangs over quite nicely but does look a bit spiky. I guess they are so common here I don't really pay them any attention. They're workhorse shrubs for supermarket car parks, hedges and municipal shrubberies because they're pretty indestructible.

Box honeysuckle is one of the many broad-leaf evergreen shrubs that freezes back when it gets below something like 10 degrees F. During the 1990 winter therefore local plantings of this species were hammered. So anyplace it is used as an architectural feature and such temperatures are possible a chance is being taken that the effect achieved will be destroyed by cold at some point. Such temperatures come often enough to most* of the Seattle area portion of USDA 8 for instance that when I belonged to the local rhododendron society kinds hardy to only 10F were deemed "tender" and "California specials".

*Sites right on or otherwise near saltwater beaches around central Puget Sound can be California mild

Yesterday I saw some potted 'B. G.' in full sun on a table at a garden center (that has lots of old, unsold, obviously unfertilized plants of other kinds) that were as white as in the OP. So maybe the ones asked about here would actually improve with fertilization.

Unfortunately, I checked today, and the white is turning brown, clearly die off. I think they don't like full direct sun, although it's only for about 4 afternoon hours.

The ones on the nursery table weren't browning. I'd still pursue the nutrition angle. Also check soil moisture, if you are getting browning.