Cape HoneySuckle II (tecomaria capensis)

 This plant is not my 1st HoneySuckle, so when I saw this double-trunk'ed tree in the nursery, I knew that this cultivar was hardy & relatively indifferent to pruning. I took it as something of a challenge..can you divide a tree with 2 trunks & make 2 little trees ?

Nothing special about this plant, but when you take a close look, you'll see that he has parallel trunks, seemingly growing beside one another or, are they both growing from the same root stock or ??  

No way of knowing until I take it out of it's pot & look.

First step is removing soil & trying to see if this is one plant, or two that have grown together & slowly, slowly, start to pull them apart.

The idea is to NOT destroy this little tree, & after a few minutes of pulling & prying & trying not to tear too many roots, I turned to my trusty pruning saw.    

       The two trunks were indeed joined..looked as if they had both grown out of a large, woody root, but the saw cut cleanly through the root ball.          

Now we have 2 specimens, each with root ball intact..now, can I keep them alive...?

I potted both & here they are..will they survive after major surgery? Only time will tell... I will leave them alone for a few days..see what happens.    

                       

Oct 30 - Update

Both plants are surviving, with no sign of ill-use; no wilting, no die-back..time will tell, but neither plant is showing any distress at being sawed-apart.

Nov. 8 - Update

Over the last week, these 2 lost some leaves, but otherwise showed little ill-effects to the surgery & re-potting, as separate trees. Now I have to decide if either is a candidate for potting-on &/or development..however, I now have 2 HoneySuckle specimens for the price of one.

Nov. 24 - Update

I think enough time has passed to declare that the "gamble" paid off..this specimen survived what I consider "major surgery" to divide him & make 2 plants. Now, the question is, what can we do with them? I've selected one to work on, pictured here, & started preliminary style pruning.

This is all for now, as I want to see how he reacts to pruning, so soon after being divided & potted..I

Dec. 9 - Update

It was not difficult to choose which of these little trees would become a candidate for further attention..we'll differentiate between them, heretofore, as Honeysuckle II(a) & Honeysuckle II(b). I'm going to let Honeysuckle II(b) grow & watch how she develops.

Honseysuckle II(a) will be the focus, in terms of this project, going forward. One of the next things we need to determine is "which side is up".. does the plant have a front, back & side? Sometimes, that's obvious, but often it is not; at times, the choices between front & back might trade places, as the plant matures & presents differently..below is how I see it..what do you think?

SIDE 2

FRONT

SIDE 1

Jan 2026

30 days on & both plants continue to thrive..both plants continue to appear healthy & adding foliage. Although it is only a month since I divided them, decided to get our principal player (for now) into a training pot..I might be rushing it, but these plants are remarkably resilient & nothing much seems to faze them.

I had not planned on doing any root pruning, in light of the major surgery, but I had to reduce the root ball & removed a couple of overgrown roots.

Now it's "wait & see" time, but given the past history I have with the tecomaria capensis, I don't anticipate problems. 

(BACK)