Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonicum Halliana)
Maybe you remember sucking the sweet nectar from honeysuckle flowers as a child. More than likely they belonged to the Hall's Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonicum Halliana), an East Asian import that seems to grow everywhere. It's long been a popular garden vine, and for good reasons--it's tough, vigorous (perhaps too vigorous), its flowers are abundant and fragrant, it has many landscape uses, and it provides good winter food and cover for wildlife.
Size: Hall's Honeysuckle grows 20 to 30 feet high, and spreads as far as it's allowed--it'll cover 150 square feet or more. It has a reputation as a "rampant" spreader, and will take over an area and smother adjacent plants if it's not pruned yearly.
Foliage: The leaves are oval to oblong and about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide. They're smooth or hairy, with smooth margins and bluish-green undersides, and carried opposite each other on the stems.
Flowers: The fragrant flowers are trumpet-shaped, white (turning yellow with age), and are about 2 inches long. They bloom in paired clusters at the branch tips, from May or June through the summer. Hummingbirds feed at the flowers, and the shiny black berries are popular with other birds.
Honeysuckle Choices
. The variety 'Repens' is similar to Halliana, but neater and tidier. Hall's Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonicum Halliana), an East Asian import that seems to be growing everywhere.
