Honeysuckle Pruning

[marimba12]

Hi! I'm new around here and am currently looking for some honeysuckle tips! I inherited this vine with the house and parts of it are looking pretty dead.

Honeysuckle.JPG (34.25 KiB) Viewed 1262 times

It's growing nicely on the top, but the undergrowth is brown. Unfortunately for me, the "dead" parts actually are the base for the green parts above. What should I do to prune it to get it looking nicer? Is it possible to prune it so that it can still grow nicely this year?

I should mention that I'm in Denver, CO (zone 5), so honeysuckle doesn't go as fast as it does in some other parts of the country. I absolutely love the smell of honeysuckle, I'd just like to get it looking nicer! Thanks for the help!

[hendi_alex]

If it were mine, I would cut the vine back close to the ground and let it start over. Perhaps let it bloom first, then take it back. Otherwise, do your best to trim out the dead vines, and then give it a hard prune when the plant is dormant.