The Exotic Honeysuckle

One of best memories is to sit with your beloved ones under a huge honeysuckle vine in Pennsylvania, sucking the nectar out of the ends of the gold and white blossom. Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining bines in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to the Northern Hemisphere. More than 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified so far. Therefore 100 species can be found in China, 20 native species identified in Europe, 20 in India, and 20 in North America. It wasn’t till long afterwards that realized that not all honeysuckles were vines, that just as many of them were shrubs and that among the vining ones not all of them grew as lushly as that childhood twinning ones; they bloom attractively and is quite varied in both their flowers and their berries. 

Hall’s honeysuckle or “Lonicera” japonica “Halliana” is the one of familiar to most people. It has white flowers that turn to gold in late spring and thereafter, followed by black berries. The foliage turns a nice bronze color in fall. A Japanese plant now naturalized in this country and hardy as well. It requires a strong support unless grown as a ground cover and can be very rampant if not controlled by pruning. If you want a more manageable vine, choose Henry honeysuckle “L.Henryi”, which is hardy and has red flowers a bit later than those of Hall’s or try gold flame honeysuckle “L. x heckrottii”, hardy to and long blooming red flowers. Even try trumpet honeysuckle because of it restrained growth and late bloom it helps to keep the hummingbirds around in July and August. Numerous species of honeysuckle have become invasive when introduced outside their native range, particularly in New Zealand and the United State.

Honeysuckle gets its name because edible sweet nectar can be sucked from the flowers. If you want to grow Honeysuckle vines will grow in most soils, and in sun or shade, but they bloom best in full sun and in soil that is fairly moist. Don’t feed the vigorous ones, and restrain them by pruning unless you are using them to control erosion and want rampant growth. Banish aphids as needed with a soap spray and propagate by seed, softwood cutting or by layering. Moreover honeysuckles are valued as garden plants, for their ability to cover unsightly walls and outbuildings, their profuse tubular flowers in summer, and the penetrating fragrance of several varieties.