Honeysuckle Plants Attract Butterflies, Hummingbirds And Bees

The plant spreads her sweet fragrance and beauty with its colorful yellow-orange, red or white flowers pointing to places only a child knows.

Planting honeysuckle can enrich a garden in a variety of ways in the garden as a richly scented and colorful climber or as a shrub. Shrubbier forms are one of the best winter-flowering shrubs. Most shrub honeysuckles grow up to 15 feet high and wide.

All climbing varieties are hardy, reaching heights of 20 to 30 feet tall. They are easy to train as twining vines on fences, walls, and trellises.

Most can tolerate a wide range of conditions. The plants flower beautifully cultivated in full sun but do well with shade to full sun and moist, well-drained soil.

The wood of the elders and the arrowwoods of the species are used to make musical instruments. The flowers of the genus have been used to make preserves and wine.

The flower of the Lonicera japonica, is used in homeopathic medicine to treat asthma, boils, cough, food poisoning, fever, flu, high cholesterol, laryngitis, swollen glands, and scabies. The berries are dangerous for some birds to eat.

Chinese honeysuckle plants, Lonicera tragophylla, are used in traditional herbal remedies for such ailments as diarrhea and rheumatism. The Chinese variety grows wild in many forests around the world. The berries are mildly toxic to humans and should not be eaten.

Insects are not the only ones to enjoy a tasty summertime treat from the honeysuckle vine. Children also like to suck on its honey sweetness. Cat owners should be cautious, as some honeysuckle plants can be toxic to cats.

The blooming sweetness of honeysuckle, Lonicera Pericylymenum, is often seen flowering among hedgerows. Perfect for wildlife gardens, growing honeysuckle on your property as a food source for butterflies, attracts hummingbirds and bees. After you plant these lovely climbers, sit back and watch nature come into view.

In North American, the trumpet honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, with bell shaped blossoms is one of the most well known. You can propagate from stem cuttings but keep in mind some parts of this evergreen plant are poisonous to animals such as rabbits.

Box honeysuckle is an excellent choice for drought resistant plants. It has white berries and flowers with dark green leaves. The most dangerous pests that can harm your honeysuckle plants are cutter ants. The ants seem to strike more in the autumn and spring.

The plant got its delightful name from the pungent nectar in the middle of the bloom. Its praises have long been sung by writers and poets; often called Woodbine. Sweetly scented Harlequin honeysuckle plants host cream and pink flowers with leaves that brighten in the fall to hot pink.