Growing Of Honeysuckles: Whys And Hows
The large group of cultivated honeysuckles could easily supply this column with interesting subjects for discussion for a year or more. While the genus Lonicera to which they belong includes almost 200 different species, less than half of these have found their way into cultivation and only a dozen or so are commonly seen.
Most kinds, as the bush honeysuckles, when rightly placed, are desirable landscape material because of their vigorous growth, abundant flowers and attractive fruits. They are generally seen as specimen plants, in shrub borders or in mass plantings. Then there arc the half-climbers, as woodbine and the ubiquitous Hall’s honeysuckle, that can often be used with surprisingly good effects on fences and pergolas or rambling over stone walls and ledges.
Of all the true bush forms, privet honeysuckle (Lonicera pileata) is probably the lowest in stature. Its brunches, with their persistent or semi-evergreen leaves, tend to spread horizontally, sometimes being almost prostrate, and the plants are seldom more than a foot or two high.
At the other end of the scale is late honeysuckle (Lonicera maacki), a vigorous species from Manchuria and Korea. It is named in honor of Richard Maack, a Russian scientist who collected specimens of it in the Amur valley in 1855. Probably it is the most massive of the group. Old plants 15 feet or more high are not uncommon, and I have seen specimens of over 20 feet where they have been forced upward by crowding. In the Brooklyn Botanic Garden there is a specimen planted in 1912 which has been allowed to develop freely without crowding and which is now about 15 feet high with a spread of over 30 feet. Plainly, the late honeysuckle is not a shrub that can be easily accommodated in the plantings about the average home. However, used singly or in groups on large lawns and in parks it can be an object of exceeding attraction when in bloom in the spring and again in the late fall when it bears almost continuous bands of glistening red berries.
The flowers open in late May or early June when most of the honeysuckles have finished blooming. They are white at first and gradually turn yellow, and the combination of white and yellow is not unattractive. They are large and showy but with only a trace of fragrance.
In garden plantings the two bush honeysuckles we most commonly see are the tatarian (Lonicera tatarica) and Morrow honeysuckle (Lonicera morrow) Both these species seem to be in an unnatural hurry to he done with the business of reproduction, for they ripen their translucent fruit in late June, at a time when their beauty is not fully appreciated. Late honeysuckle, on the other hand, puts off its fruiting until almost the last minute; it seems to take a touch of fall to remind it of its duty. This year in mid-September the berries were hardly half-grown.
It is in October, though occasionally earlier, that the abundant fruit ripens to rich red. Since the twin flowers are borne in the leaf arils, so are the attractive berries, and at times, when particularly plump, the four fruits press together and form little squares. Unless taken by birds, the fruits remain in good condition for several weeks and it is not uncommon for the shrubs to make spots of glowing color in the cheerless November landscape.
Kent Higgins shares his years of plant growing experience providing tips, advice and helpful resources on topics like outdoor hibiscus care. Get to know www.plant-care.com stand out from the crowd in the world of lawn, garden landscaping, vines and house plants. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
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