Honeysuckle

Growing Honeysuckle

Trumpet Honeysuckle

Lonicera sempervirens, a vine honeysuckle, is easy to grow. It prefers evenly moist soil but is drought tolerant once established. It tolerates a range of soils from acidic to alkaline. Trumpet Honeysuckle prefers full sun but will flower in part shade. It is hardy as far north as zone 6, and is deciduous in areas with cold winters but can be evergreen in warm climates. It grows rapidly and climbs by twining.

This vine flowers on new growth, so any pruning should be done in late winter or early spring. It can be easily propagated by softwood cuttings taken in the spring.

The most popular cultivars of Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) are:
‘Alabama Crimson’
‘Cedar Lane’ - dark red flowers
‘Dropmore Scarlet’
'Sulfurea’ – yellow flowers
‘John Clayton’ – yellow flowers
‘Magnifica’ – flowers are red outside, yellow inside
‘Superba’ – scarlet flowers

Boxleaf Honeysuckle

Lonicera nitida is a shrub honeysuckle with small leaves that resemble those of boxwood. It is evergreen in the warmer parts of its range and deciduous in colder areas, and hardy from zone 7 south. It is often grown as a low hedge. The flowers are small and inconspicuous. Plant this species in full sun and average soil. A popular cultivar is ‘Baggesen's Gold’, which has a height of four feet and a spread of six feet. The yellow-green foliage turns bronze in the fall.

Privet Honeysuckle, Lonicera pileata, is also called Boxleaf Honeysuckle. It grows about three feet tall but has a spread of five feet or sometimes more. It, too, is often used as a hedge and responds well to pruning. ‘Hohenkrummer’ is a popular cultivar. It is hardy to zone 6, has glossy dark green foliage, and matures to a height of five feet with a spread of four feet.

Winter Honeysuckle

Lonicera fragrantissima is a shrub honeysuckle valued for its creamy-white, lemon-scented flowers. It blooms very early, which explains its common name. This is a long-lived shrub that grows quickly to a height of six to ten feet with an equal spread. It does not tolerate wet or boggy conditions. It is hardy in zones 4-8 and is deciduous in the colder parts of its range and evergreen in warmer locations. Plant in sun to partial shade.

Uses

Honeysuckle has been valued as an ornamental garden plant for centuries. Samuel Pepys wrote, “The bugles blow scent instead of sound,” and called it the trumpet flower.

Some species have medicinal properties. Lonicera xylosteum (Fly Honeysuckle) is a common homeopathic remedy for asthma and breathing difficulties. Lonicera periclymenum (European honeysuckle) is occasionally used for irritability with violent outbursts.

The wood of Lonicera tartarica contains nepetalactone, which is the active ingredient found in catnip. Cat toys are sometimes made of this species, which is native to Eurasia.

Honeysuckle Pictures

Cape Honeysuckle

Japanese Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle Bush

Honeysuckle Bush

Honeysuckle Berries

Related Flowers

Goat Honeysuckle

Goat Honeysuckle (Lonicera Caprifolium) - A common plant, but not a true native, though it occurs occasionally in a naturalised state. The flowers, borne in clusters, have long tubes, yellowish and blush tinted, and very fragrant, coming in May and June, succeeded in autumn by yellowish berries. It is a robust twiner, and grows wild in chalky districts in hedges and woods. There are numerous recorded names of varieties of this Honey-suckle, among them being rubella, pallida, verna, villosa, atrosanguinea, and Magnevillei. The last named is one of the most distinct.

Western Trumpet Honey-suckle

Western Trumpet Honey-suckle (Lonicera Ciliosa) - A rare and beautiful kind recently reintroduced. A twining species of the L. sempervirens set, but differing in having leaves hairy at the margins. Flowers 1 1/2 inches long, very freely produced, and in their self-colored refined orange tone very effective and distinct from all else. Flowers in early summer, the scarlet fruits ripening in September.

Lonicera Confusa

Lonicera Confusa - De Candolles Honey-suckle is the beautiful Honeysuckle that is grown under the name of L. Halleana. A slender plant with long twining branches, the leaves are ovate, and not pinnatifid as in L. japonica, deep green, with not such a ruddy tinge as in L. japonica. The flowers are in pairs from the axils of the leaves on the tips of the young shoots, pure white when first expanded, changing to yellow, and this is the character that makes the plant so beautiful apart from its fragrance and free flowering. It flowers throughout the summer, and its lithe, slender stems will soon reach the top of a wall or tree stump.

Lonicera Flava

Lonicera Flava - A moderate climber, with broad ovate leaves, pale green beneath, and terminal clusters of flowers, bright rich yellow fading to a deeper shade, and delightfully fragrant. It is best when planted against a sunny wall in this country. N. America.

The Winter Honey-suckle

Lonicera fragrantissima
Common name: Winter Honeysuckle

This shrub honeysuckle is valued for its early bloom period. The lemon-scented bell-shaped flowers appear early in spring. This species is often grown as a garden plant. See Honeysuckle for more information.

Lonicera fragrantissima was often grown in English gardens:
The Winter Honey-suckle is among the earliest of all hardy shrubs whose flowers greet the new year are this species and its close ally, L. Standishi. Neither of them can be called showy, yet they are both well worth growing, because their flowers, although small, are abundant, and have besides a fine fragrance. These are only good in warm southern valleys or warm walls, but never so valuable as the summer-flowering kinds.

Chinese Honeysuckle

Chinese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Tragophylla) - A beautiful Honeysuckle, large yellow flowers, vigorous and hardy. Best in a half-shady position and in good moist loam.

Japan Honeysuckle

Japan Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica) - This is as hardy as the common Honeysuckle, and retains its foliage during winter. It may be distinguished from the other two Japanese species by its slender growth, deep green shining leaves, which have a marked tendency to vary from the normal ovate form to a pinnatifid or Oakleaved form. The flowers are in pairs on the tips of the young shoots, tubular, slender, white tinged with red, and fragrant, from midsummer till the beginning of autumn.

Japanese Honeysuckle Distribution

Honeysuckle: Woodbine

Honeysuckle: Woodbine (Lonicera Periclymenum) - A native of the middle of Europe and northwards, and is a true native in England, where it is generally seen in hedgerows and thickets. Numerous varieties of this species have sprung up either wild or under cultivation. Some differ in regard to color of flowers, others in time of flowering, and these are the most important. The wild form flowers about midsummer, according to the season—the variety known as the Late Dutch Honeysuckle flowers into autumn. Another variety, belgica, is known as the Dutch Honeysuckle, as distinguished from the late Dutch, and it is a stronger growing plant than the type. Its branches are purplish, and its flowers are reddish outside, yellowish within.