This time of year the native honeysuckle growing on my arbor is one of the showiest flowers around. Tons of flowers are covering the controllable version of lonicera. The native honeysuckle goes by the name of Lonicera sempervirens and not Lonicera japonica. I have the exotic foreigner too but it came with the garden! And it’s been ignoring my eviction notices. The difference between the two is their growth habit. The native honeysuckle grows at a pace where the garden can actually keep up with its maintenance. The only drawback is that the native honeysuckle doesn’t have the characteristic honey sweet fragrance, but I’ve talked about native honeysuckle before.
Check out that link above for more on the native honeysuckle but for the rest of this post I’ll just show you some pretty pictures! Any objections? No? Good! (You really didn’t have a choice anyway ;))
This variety is called ‘Alabama Crimson’. They really need to hybridize and orange variety so Tennessee gardeners can plant the ‘Orange Vol’. However a more common variety is named ‘Major Wheeler’. Which ever honeysuckle you plant just make sure it is Lonicera sempervirens and not Lonicera japonica.
It’s spring, the storms are done for the week, and things are looking up!
Here is a cropped picture from the last post. If you look toward the back of the picture you’ll see another honeysuckle. This one isn’t a named variety and came forma cutting from my parent’s honeysuckle plant.
Red honeysuckle definitely dazzles this time of year in the garden! And the hummingbirds love it too!
I love them, too…and wish I was hanging around sometime to see the hummers that visit it~Have a great weekend~gail PS Glad you joined WW and way to propagate the honeysuckle.
Just stopping by to check out the other participants in the Wildflower Week meme. We have some wild Honeysuckle growing here. I love it, too, because it attracts the hummingbirds. Nice post!
Honeysuckle looks just great in the garden. The "honey sweet fragrance" is surely something not to be missed 🙂
What do you mean, that native honeysuckle doesn't have a sweet smell that we typically associate with it? We have wild honeysuckle growing here in Virginia, and I remember honeysuckle growing wild in Florida where I grew up. Both places, the honeysuckle aroma is the outstanding feature in my memory.
Stan Horst
Publisher: BetterBenches.com
Stan,
The native honeysuckle doesn't have a fragrance. The one that does have a fragrance came from Asia and has overtaken the natives. It's highly aggressive but does smell great!