 HONEYSUCKLE
(Lonicera)"Scents and smells can be even more evocative than music and, for many, a heady draught of summer honeysuckle can be the passport to a nostalgic world. Even if it doesn't have this effect, Lonicera or honeysuckle climbing species and varieties provide some of the classic sights and scents of the summer that everyone recognises and enjoys. In addition, from a garden design perspective, climbers provide vertical interest and increase available growing space. This is especially useful in smaller gardens where climbers can be grown to take advantage of aboveground space that is available. In fact, you can look at otherwise dull and uninteresting walls and fences as vertical borders up which climbing plants can be grown to provide colour, scent and form.
Honeysuckles are best known for their flowers. These are tubular or funnel to bell shaped and develop in whorls (circular arrangements of flowers). Many, but not all are fragrant. Depending on species and variety, flowers vary in colour from creamy white to yellow, pink and red. Some are flushed with purple, pink or orange. In most species and varieties the flowers are 3 to 5 cm long, but there are exceptions like the Giant Burmese honeysuckle (Lonicera hildebrandiana) whose flowers are between 8 and 15 cm long. Leaves grow in opposite pairs and vary in colour from mid-green to dark green, including grey-green and blue-green.
Choose the species or variety that provides the effect you want. Lonicera x americana, for example, produces profuse blooms of very fragrant yellow flowers, flushed red-purple, in large whorls. Lonicera caprifolium (Italian honeysuckle) is similarly a very fragrant species, producing creamy white to yellow flowers flushed with pink. The Common honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), with its white to yellow fragrant flowers would also be a good choice if scent is a priority. All of these are woody, deciduous species, flowering in summer or early autumn. For striking colour, Lonicera brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet' produces bright scarlet flowers from June to August. There are honeysuckles which are evergreen or semi-evergreen (retaining some or most of their leaves throughout the year). Lonicera japonica and Giant Burmese honeysuckle are examples of this group.
Growing climbers requires no special expertise. They do need some form of support to grow up and the type of support needed depends on the nature of the climbing habit. Climbing species and varieties of Lonicera are what is termed twining climbers and as such will perform best when grown up a trellis. Of the honeysuckles described, all are fully hardy except Lonicera hildebrandiana, which is half-hardy. Soil requirements are for a fertile, moist but well drained soil. Position plants in full sun or partial shade. With the exception of the Common honeysuckle, which should be pruned back annually after flowering, honeysuckles do not require attention every year. These plants can be trimmed to fit the space available.
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