Summer’s heat and moisture create the perfect storm for explosive plant growth. If you’ve looked out your window lately and wondered if your landscaping has taken on a life of its own, you’re not alone. Homeowners across the St. Louis region are dealing with honeysuckles that have grown from charming privacy screens into towering green walls, and shrubs that have outgrown their designated spaces.

The Honeysuckle Situation: Beauty Turned Beast

Honeysuckle screens are incredibly popular for creating natural privacy barriers between properties. They’re attractive, fast-growing, and effective at blocking unwanted views acting as a free fence. But this summer’s combination of abundant moisture and heat has sent these plants into overdrive!

Right now, honeysuckles have finished their blooming cycle and are putting all their energy into aggressive growth. What started as a manageable privacy screen to hide from your nosy neighbors, can quickly become a safety hazard. When honeysuckle grows obnoxiously near driveways, business entrances, or subdivision exits, it creates dangerous blind spots that prevent drivers from seeing oncoming traffic or pedestrians.

Even when used purely for screening purposes, honeysuckles need regular maintenance to prevent them from:

  • Engulfing neighboring plants and cutting off their sunlight
  • Spreading beyond their intended boundaries
  • Creating maintenance nightmares for property owners

The Shrub Surge: When Good Plants Go Wild

It’s not just honeysuckles causing headaches. Traditional landscape favorites like boxwoods, hydrangeas, and arborvitae are also experiencing unprecedented growth spurts. These plants, typically known for their manageable size and tidy appearance, are pushing well beyond their intended spaces.

Many homeowners are finding themselves overwhelmed by shrubs that have grown so large they’re blocking windows and dominating entire sections of their yards. The key is getting these plants back to a size where they can thrive within their designated growing spaces while maintaining their aesthetic appeal.

Not all honeysuckle problems are created equal. While some homeowners are dealing with intentionally planted screening varieties, others are battling shrub honeysuckle that showed up uninvited.

The challenge with shrub honeysuckle isn’t just cutting it back, it’s preventing it from returning. Simply cutting these plants at ground level is like mowing weeds instead of pulling them by the roots; you’re only dealing with the visible problem while the real issue remains underground. Proper eradication requires treating the stump with a quality stump killer to prevent regrowth.

Taming the Woods: Managing Your Natural Boundaries

For homeowners with properties that back up to wooded areas, taming the beast extends beyond individual plants to entire woodland edges. At Horstmann Brothers, we’ve been seeing this problem become very prevalent in many St. Louis County areas such as Chesterfield, Clarkson Valley, Ballwin, Clayton, Brentwood, Maplewood, and Frontenac.

Overgrown tree lines can create several problems:

Light Issues: Dense canopies and thick underbrush can block essential filtered light from reaching your garden. Strategic pruning of tree limbs and cutback of woodland edges can restore the light balance your landscape plants need to thrive.

A Gradual Takeover: Wild growth doesn’t respect property lines. Left unchecked, woodland areas can steadily intrude upon your maintained landscape, requiring increasingly aggressive management over time.

The Bamboo Battle: Beautiful but Relentless

Bamboo has the ability to completely take over a space when left unmanaged. While bamboo can be an attractive landscape feature, it’s also one of the most invasive plants you can introduce to your property and raises its ugly head anywhere. Summer conditions cause it to spread aggressively, and it has zero respect for property boundaries. The bamboo problem is particularly challenging because disruptive bamboo grows by a “rhizome” horizontal root structure, up to three feet deep and creeping outward in all directions underground.

The neighbor’s bamboo doesn’t understand property lines. Therefore, you may find yourself constantly hacking back shoots that appear in your yard. Effective bamboo management requires vigilant containment efforts and regular cutback to keep it within its intended growing area.

Timing Is Everything

The period right after flowering and during peak summer growth (right now), is actually ideal for major pruning and cutback work. Plants have stored energy reserves and can handle aggressive pruning better than during dormant seasons. This timing allows you to:

  • Reduce size significantly without shocking the plant
  • Shape growth for the remainder of the growing season
  • Prevent seed formation and spread in invasive species
  • Restore safety and visibility around driveways and walkways
  • Keep your intentional garden & landscaping thriving

Taking Action: From Overwhelmed to In Control

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your landscape’s sudden growth spurt, you’re not alone. The good news is that with proper pruning and management techniques, you can restore order to your outdoor space and prevent future overgrowth issues. The key is taking action now while growing conditions still allow plants to recover from aggressive pruning.

Remember, a well-managed landscape doesn’t happen by accident. It requires proactive maintenance, especially during periods of rapid growth like we’re experiencing this moisture-rich summer. The goal isn’t to fight your plants, but to work with them to create the outdoor space you want to enjoy for years to come.

Reclaim Your Landscape!

Don’t let overgrown honeysuckles, sprawling shrubs, or aggressive species take over your property. Professional pruning and disruptive species management are essential components of proper landscape care, and timing is critical for the best results.

Our comprehensive seasonal maintenance services include expert pruning, invasive species removal, and woodland edge management to keep your landscape healthy, safe, and beautiful throughout the year. Whether you’re dealing with honeysuckle screens that have gotten out of control, shrubs blocking your windows, or bamboo creeping from neighboring properties, our experienced team has the knowledge and tools to restore order to your outdoor space.

Stop battling your yard and start enjoying it. Book a consultation with an expert at Horstmann Brothers Landscape Services and take the first step toward a landscape that works FOR you, not against you.

Why Trust Horstmann Brothers Landscape Services?

For more than 30 years we’ve helped countless St. Louis homeowners turn their outdoor spaces into stunning retreats. Our expert team understands that every yard and homeowner is unique. Whether you just need cleanup of overgrown areas, you’re dreaming of vibrant flower beds, a sculpted garden, or a drought-friendly design, we bring your vision to life with precision and artistry.

This article was written by Afflecto Media Marketing after an extensive interview with the owner of Horstmann Brothers Landscaping, Paul Horstmann. This content draws from Paul’s observations this spring and summer in St. Louis, Missouri and his proven track record running one of the most successful residential and commercial lawn and landscaping businesses in the region.