Saturday, July 31, 2010

Native Honeysuckle



This is a native honeysuckle, or lonicera sempervirens.  I believe the variety name is Alabama Crimson, but since I threw away the label I'm not sure about that.  I have it growing on our mailbox and it continues to put on quite a show.  The reddish-orange flowers come out in profusion in April and then continue sporadically through the summer.  Hummingbirds dearly love this flower.  It does not have the fragrance of the rampant and invasive Japanese honeysuckle that you commonly see. 



Here is a picture of my vine at peak bloom in April.  Since this time it has completely taken over the mailbox and I have to trim it back so the poor postman can get to the box.  It remains full and lush in its growth with no disease at all.  It's really too bad that so few people down here grow this easy and beautiful vine.  It's native to our country and thrives nearly anywhere.  Mine is growing in full sun, but they grow equally well in partial shade.  They will grow in the cold of zone 4 and the heat of zone 9. 

3 comments:

meemsnyc said...

OOoh, that honeysuckle is gorgeous.

Betty819 said...

Paint your mailbox flag to match your honeysuckle vine. That is so pretty. Will that come back next year? I bet that smells yummy! I love to smell honeysuckle fragrance.

Davy Barr said...

These honeysuckles are perrenial and come back year after year.