Topiary-Tending with Lonicera Nitida

Maintaining traditions is important. There are so many things our ancestors knew how to do. Many of these, we in the next generations have not mastered. 

In my town, there was a wonderful neighbor who created Japanese-style garden displays in her backyard. There, in a space which must have transported her back to childhood and gardens her elders had created, she trimmed topiaries and mastered the art of blending shades of green to arrive at a calming landscape. Inside her home were bonsais that perhaps had been inspired by her work with simpler topiaries outside, for some of the care was the same for the two. Traditional arts she had learned decades earlier and in a whole other part of the world were kept alive through her efforts.

With the passing of generations, the gardens were turned back to lawns, and the indoor bonsais… well, I do not know what became of them. I cannot say that those who might have kept her traditions alive were careless as they made changes. Instead, I believe they did not know how to carry her work forward. They had not taken part in these artful traditions. I think they were afraid to make mistakes in trimming and tending, so they chose not to do so at all.

Well, as melancholy as this story is, it inspires me to learn some things that are new to me, though far from new in the broader sense. I am going to work with some topiaries. 

Rather than assume I can immediately tend bonsais, I think that starting with something a little easier makes sense. Lonicera nitida, a petite member of the Honeysuckle family, needs maintenance to keep its tree-form. But its small size will help me practice restraint as I use my clippers, while its familiar Boxwood-type leaves will make me comfortable as I go about my learning.

Lonicera indicates that this plant is a Honeysuckle, and nitida is Latin for “shining” or “bright”. Lonicera nitida, Goldie has leaves with Boxwood-style strength, and bright and cheery yellow-green foliage at the plant tips. This is a Honeysuckle that should not call to mind trumpet-like flowers with nectar that is irresistible to pollinators. Instead, this non-flowering member of the Honeysuckle family puts its effort into producing attractive evergreen foliage. Its effort pays off.

While other Honeysuckles demand sun, Lonicera nitida is tolerant of partial shade. In my climate, it will need to spend these final winter weeks indoors, returning inside for overwintering on an annual basis in the future.

Now I must admit that I have arrived at mixed results when overwintering topiaries indoors in the past. I faltered when it came to understanding just how much water they needed. But this variety, Lonicera nitida, Tree Form, Goldie, is small enough to be manageable, as I can keep it in a container that allows me to check its soil regularly and with ease. 

I will let its soil dry between waterings, but I will never let Lonicera nitida crave water. And I will fertilize it every couple of weeks. Then, as long as I can ensure that sun streams in a window to further nourish it, Lonicera nitida is sure to do well.

Without the careful trimming of the sort that my neighbor once did, Lonicera nitida might grow thicker on one side or have a wild piece of foliage interrupting its shape. But with a trim here and there, it can be kept in the form of a little tree with a bushy top. Lonicera nitida gives me no need to puzzle over how to trim it. I will clip the foliage into a spherical shape, and maintain a visible trunk with no branches. I will err on the side of trimming Lonicera nitida less rather than more and allowing a little looseness as I shape the green sphere.

While I tend to like free-form plants in the garden, I will start to introduce a few Lonicera nitida topiaries as throughtfully groomed forms, for contrast. In the process, I will gain some practice trimming plants with restraint. Also in the process, I will think of my neighbor who kept traditions such as this alive. 

Shaping topiaries has not been part of my own family’s traditions to date, but as a proud member of the world’s ‘family of gardeners’, I hope to learn the old ways and try my hand at tending a lovely plant in a manner that has been appreciated for longer than I can speculate. In learning this and other traditional methods of plant-keeping, I can have a hand at keeping important arts, skills, and knowledge alive.