Few plants earn their place in the garden as quickly as honeysuckle. The sweetly scented, nectar-rich blooms draw hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees all season long, and a vigorous vine can clothe a bare fence or arbor in a single summer. With more than 180 species in the genus Lonicera, there is a honeysuckle for nearly every spot, from a fragrant climber over a doorway to a low evergreen hedge.
That same vigor is also why honeysuckle has a mixed reputation. A handful of species have become invasive across much of the United States, while others are well-behaved natives that support local wildlife. Choosing the right one is the single most important decision you will make, so this guide covers how to pick a good honeysuckle, plant it correctly, and keep it blooming for years.
Honeysuckle comes in vines, shrubs, and bushes
Honeysuckle grows in three broad forms, and knowing which you have shapes everything from where you plant it to how you prune it.
- Climbing vines are the classic honeysuckles, twining up walls, fences, pergolas, and arbors with fragrant tubular flowers. They are not self-clinging, so they need a support to wrap around.
- Shrubby honeysuckles form arching, rounded plants used as informal hedges or, with small-leaved evergreen types, as clipped hedging and even topiary.
- Bush honeysuckles are mostly the invasive non-native species, and these are the ones to avoid planting.
Most honeysuckles are deciduous, dropping their leaves in fall, but in warmer regions some are semi-evergreen or fully evergreen and hold their foliage through winter. Many are perennial and long-lived, with established plants persisting for 20 years or more.
Choose a native or non-invasive honeysuckle
Before you buy, it pays to know the difference between the honeysuckles that earned the plant its bad name and the ones that belong in a garden.
The worst offenders are Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and the bush honeysuckles, including Amur (L. maackii), Morrow’s (L. morrowii), and Tatarian (L. tatarica). These escape cultivation, smother native plants, and form dense thickets, and several are banned or restricted across the eastern and midwestern states. Avoid them, and check your local regulations before planting any honeysuckle, since what is legal varies by region.
For garden use, lean toward natives and tame cultivars:
- Coral or trumpet honeysuckle (L. sempervirens) is a North American native vine with bright red, hummingbird-magnet flowers. It is vigorous without being aggressive, hardy in USDA Zones 4 to 9, and the cultivar ‘Major Wheeler’ blooms heavily all season.
- Goldflame honeysuckle (L. x heckrottii) is a fragrant, disease-resistant hybrid vine with carmine-pink and creamy-yellow flowers, good in Zones 4 to 9.
- Woodbine and common honeysuckle (L. periclymenum) cultivars such as ‘Serotina’ and ‘Scentsation’ are richly scented climbers for Zones 4 to 8.
- Winter honeysuckle (L. fragrantissima) is a deciduous shrub that opens intensely fragrant white flowers as early as January, valuable when little else is blooming.
- Boxleaf and box honeysuckle (L. pileata and L. nitida) are small-leaved evergreen shrubs used for low hedges and topiary, and a smart substitute where boxwood blight is a problem.
A quick field trick separates many natives from invaders: snap a stem and look at the center. Native honeysuckles have a solid white pith, while the invasive non-natives have a hollow pith.
Plant honeysuckle in spring or fall
Honeysuckle is easiest to establish in spring after the last frost or in early fall, when cool weather and reliable moisture help roots settle before extremes of heat or cold. Avoid planting in the heat of midsummer, which stresses young plants, and in frozen winter ground. Deciduous and bare-root types are best set out in late winter while dormant.
Site selection follows the plant’s woodland origins. Climbing honeysuckles evolved with their roots shaded by trees and their stems reaching up into the light, so they perform best with cool, shaded roots and sun on top. They will grow in full sun to light shade, but you will get the most flowers with about six hours of sun a day, and scent is strongest in a warm, sheltered spot. Shrubby types tolerate full sun or partial shade. All honeysuckles want moist but well-drained, humus-rich soil.
To plant:
- If you are using a trellis, arbor, or wires, put the support in place before planting so you do not disturb the roots later.
- Work several inches of compost or well-rotted manure into the top of the planting area to improve fertility and moisture retention.
- Dig a hole as deep as the rootball and a little wider, and set the plant at the same depth it grew in its pot.
- Space climbers 6 to 12 inches from their support, and set multiple plants 2 to 3 feet apart. For a shrubby hedge, plant about five small plants per yard.
- Firm the soil, water deeply, and mulch with bark chips or compost to lock in moisture, taking care to keep mulch off the stems.
Because honeysuckles are deep-rooted and need steady moisture, they are far happier in the ground than in pots over the long term. Many vines will still grow well in a large container for a few years if given a trellis and regular water, and compact non-climbing varieties such as ‘Strawberries and Cream’ are bred specifically for pots and the front of a border.
Water and feed for steady growth
Newly planted honeysuckle needs consistent moisture. Water it weekly through its first growing season, then only during prolonged dry spells once it is established. Keep the soil moist but never soggy, and watch for the “rain shadow” at the base of walls and fences where rain rarely reaches; an annual spring mulch helps hold what moisture there is.
Feeding is light. A general-purpose or low-nitrogen fertilizer applied in spring, or a couple of inches of composted manure, supports good growth and flowering. Resist the urge to overfeed: excess nitrogen pushes lush leaves at the expense of blooms. In genuinely fertile soil you may not need to fertilize at all.
Prune to match how your honeysuckle flowers
Pruning honeysuckle confuses many gardeners because the right approach depends on the type and, crucially, on whether it blooms on old or new wood. The risk is cutting off this year’s flowers before they open.
- Early-summer-flowering climbers bloom on the previous season’s growth. Prune them lightly after flowering, cutting back about a third to keep them shapely. Leave the spent flowers if you want the berries that birds enjoy.
- Late-summer-flowering climbers bloom on the current season’s growth. Prune these lightly in early spring, and do not cut hard or you sacrifice the flowers.
- Deciduous shrubby types can be pruned after they finish flowering in late spring or summer.
- Evergreen shrubby types like L. nitida take a trim in summer.
An overgrown, woody, or tangled vine can be renovated by cutting it back hard in late winter; it will resprout vigorously in spring. Honeysuckle vines also tend to go bare and woody at the base over time as the top growth shades out the bottom, so thinning the upper portion during the dormant season keeps the whole plant clothed.
Propagate honeysuckle for free plants
Honeysuckle is generous and easy to multiply. Semi-ripe cuttings taken in mid- to late summer, when new stems are flexible but firm, root readily in pots of gritty compost. Layering is even simpler: bend a low, flexible shoot down to the ground, pin it into the soil, and let it root before you sever it from the parent. You can also grow climbers from seed extracted from the ripe berries; sow fresh in fall and leave the pots in a cold frame over winter, as the seed needs a cold period before it will sprout the following spring.
Solve common honeysuckle problems
Honeysuckle is tough, but a few issues come up often enough to plan for.
It will not bloom. The usual culprits are pruning at the wrong time and removing the flowering wood, too much nitrogen feeding leafy growth, too little sun, or simply a young plant; honeysuckle can take up to three years to hit its flowering stride. Move a shade-bound plant into more sun, ease off the fertilizer, and prune according to its bloom timing.
Aphids. Honeysuckle aphids attack soft new growth, especially on stressed plants in hot, dry spots, curling and yellowing the leaves and excreting sticky honeydew that leads to sooty mold. Knock light infestations off with a strong jet of water, then step up to insecticidal soap or neem if needed. Plants grown with shaded, moist roots are far less prone to attack.
Powdery mildew. A white coating on the leaves usually signals dry roots rather than a problem to spray away. Rather than reaching for a fungicide, keep the roots cool and watered and mulch annually so the soil holds moisture; growing in partial shade also helps.
Yellowing leaves. Leaves that yellow and drop typically point to a lack of water or nutrients. Give the plant a deep drink and a balanced or seaweed feed, and it should recover.
No fragrance. Not every honeysuckle is scented, so check the label before buying. If a scented variety smells weak, give it a good watering, since warm, moist conditions bring out the best perfume, and check again at dusk, because many honeysuckles evolved to be pollinated by moths and release their strongest scent at night.
A garden plant worth getting right
Honeysuckle rewards a little upfront care with years of fragrant flowers and a steady parade of pollinators. Pick a native or well-behaved cultivar suited to your zone, give it cool roots and sun overhead, water it through that first season, and prune to suit how it blooms. Get those basics right and you will have a plant that earns its keep season after season, then layer or take a cutting and share the next one with a neighbor.