Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) can bloom on both old wood (last year's growth) and new wood (the growth it will produce this coming year), depending on the variety. (All varieties will at least be blooming on old wood. Since 'Major Wheeler' is noted for flowering most of the season, it should be doing both.) This means that trimming prior to the start of bloom will remove those flower buds, though it should not hurt plant health overall otherwise. If you wish to have as near-normal a bloom as possible, then we'd recommend waiting to prune until the first flush of flowers is fading, which might be around late spring or early summer. Otherwise, pruning in late winter will delay the start of flowering to sometime in early or midsummer, most likely.

It's typical for many vines to become leggy or somewhat bare on their lower, older stems after they mature. This is sometimes due to the shading from younger growth above it, though not always. If that's an important aesthetic, the only way to regain a leafier bottom portion of the vines is to either cut some stems back (you don't necessarily have to trim all stems back heavily) to encourage regrowth from the base, or to simply cover it up with a shorter vine (not many options, especially if you prefer a native) or low-growing shrub or mid-size perennial whose foliage will hide the bare vine stems.

Although this is unlikely (at least to any great extent), if you see any vine branches that do not leaf-out when the rest of the plant has broken dormancy and has resumed growth, then those dead stems can be pruned off a that time.

Miri

Thank you!!  This answered my question.

You're welcome!