Heavenly honeysuckle
From fragrant climbers to shaggy shrubs, the lonicera genus is full of surprises. Val Bourne explains
Sweetly fragrant, with ‘rhubarb-and-custard’ summer flowers, this is the archetypal image of honeysuckle. Yet they come in many other shapes and sizes: they don’t all climb; and some aren’t scented. Most are fully hardy, though, and many produce nectar-rich, colourful flowers and berries. They’re all native to the northern hemisphere with about 200 species found throughout this area, hence the diversity. A hundred or so hail from China alone. The most commonly grown in gardens is Lonicera periclymenum (left). This useful twiner scrambles up through shrubs or roses, taking up little ground space. It’s native to Europe, North Africa, Turkey and The Caucasus and can often be seen straddling a British hedgerow. The slender flowers are designed to be moth pollinated, so the fragrance intensifies after dusk, although bees also visit. The luscious red berries that follow are favoured by blackbirds, thrushes and redwings: it’s a really good wildlife plant. Although it becomes a tangle of stems in winter, it’s ideal for a boundary hedge or wildlife area. Of the 12 named L. periclymenum forms, ‘Serotina’, ‘Belgica’ and ‘Graham Thomas’ are the most widely grown. Often blooming until autumn, ‘Serotina’ has colourful purple, red and cream-white flowers. Less-colourful ‘Belgica’ flowers slightly earlier and is often known as the Early Dutch honeysuckle. Warm yellow-flowered ‘Graham Thomas’ was discovered by the man himself in a Warwickshire hedgerow.
Climbing honeysuckles
Some climbing honeysuckles have much showier, bright orange or golden-yellow flowers designed to attract hummingbirds, so there’s no fragrance at all. Many of the best are vigorous hybrids; L. tellmanniana is well worth growing for its luscious, glowing yellow flowers from late spring to summer. These vividly colourful honeysuckles need moist (but not waterlogged) soil and a warm position. Some can be semi-evergreen in warm situations, which is a mixed blessing because they can suffer from aphids early in the year. The problem is worse in shade. When it comes to non-climbing honeysuckles, winterflowering ones are useful, and the best is L. purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’, a bushy shrub with ivory-white flowers on bare woody stems. This has an exquisite scent and makes a lovely cut f lower stem too. It isn’t the tidiest shrub in summer, so place it near a gateway, or on the boundary. It’s a real bee pleaser and early-flying honeybees and bumblebees relish the f lowers.
Shrubby forms
There are also shrubby honeysuckles grown principally for their foliage. Yellow-leaved
Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ is often clipped into tight, box-like balls. However it’s far more time-consuming than box, because ‘Baggesen’s Gold’ puts out long lengths of foliage every month or so. Another excellent honeysuckle that’s grown for foliage is Chinese L. pileata, known as box-leaved honeysuckle. This compact plant is roughly the same size as box. The herringbone arrangement of its leaves comes to life in spring when the new, lighter foliage can be seen against the dark-green mature leaves. Cream-white flowers appear in spring, followed by violet berries. The beauty of this plant is that it can be grown in deep shade with ferns, Euonymus fortunei and ivies.