Winter Honeysuckle

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/400/index.html


Anyone have any real life experience with this thing? I stole a bit from a hike the other day because it just smells heavenly. I'm trying to root it in a glass of water, but after reading about it I'm wondering if it's a mistake. I knew it was a little ugly and seemed to be growing a bit too well where I found it. I can keep something pruned, but I don't want a monster that sends out runners and eats my garden. Any experience out there?

It does get a little rangy but having something bloom in the dead of winter and smells heavenly too, can't beat it. I don't find it invasive but it needs support. Treat it like you would a clematis and trellis it. I rooted mine in soil and it is valued by Master Gardeners around here. My orginal cutting came from my old home place near Rhine, GA.
Digs

I bought one last year and still have it in its original pot until we find a spot for it. It does have an enticing aroma. On Kennesaw Mountain you can smell it for quite a distance before you find the source. I prefer it to the vine since you really don't need any support for it and it seems fairly well behaved (maybe 6 to 8 foot tall with an 8 foot spread).

Another one to look for is the native Grancy Greybeard (chionanthus virginicus). It blooms later, has a nice scent, and makes quite a show. The Chinese (C. retusus) fringe tree has no smell but grows larger.

hmm...Kennesaw Mountain...whoda thunk? Me! That's where my stolen snippet came from! lol I couldn't get over the smell. Just wonderful. :) I'm thinking maybe trained to go up a gazebo/pergola type structure. Can they be limbed up pretty well or do you train it to go up by just tying it on?

I plan on letting mine be free form with some pruning of dead wood and wayward branches. That is the nice thing about lonicera fragrantissima - it doesn't need any support nor heavy pruning. The vining honeysuckle should have some support for best display but isn't necessary.

Here is a half-way decent site about winter honeysuckle:

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/plant.asp?code=D970

Thanks! Considering having a clematis grow in it too so it doesn't just look like a green lump (I'm thinking like forsythia) when it's not flowering.

What I'm calling Winter Honeysuckle was sold at a nursery in Jackson MS. Mine are young but they grow 'round' and I was told about 10 feet tall and maybe 4 feet around and the limbs arch. I was not told that it is invasive and these do not appear to be. Does it stay green all year round with flowers in the winter only???

Sounds like you described it right. It drops its leaves in winter and is blooming now (at least mine is). It gets bigger round than 4 foot. Look at the link I provided earlier.

It does spread but I guess that is by seed. It is not invasive like the Japanese honeysuckle.

Yep, that's what I have, three of them. However, mine appear more shaped than the big one in the photos, mine is just a first year one and I haven't seen it bloom yet, will check tomorrow, assuming the monsoon is over and has not turned into ice...thanks!!!

Plants do sucker and get a bit scraggly if you don't prune. Seems to really like sandy soil. Makes the occasional soft red fruit which the mockingbird will take care of.

I grew up with them. I've never found them to be invasive, but if left alone for years, they will become larger and larger around from some suckering. My mother called the winter honeysuckle "Kiss-Me-At-The-Gate", and I was well grown before I found out its real name. I have one that is a cutting from my aunt's house.

In my opinion, the best place for one is sort of out of the way, or in a place where it can be allowed to grow. They are not an especially attractive bush, not ugly, though. But oh, my! the smell can't be beat! I cannot imagine living without one.

Right now I have a daphne at one end of the yard, and the honeysuckle at the other, and they smell terrific!

Unfortunately the cutting croaked. lol I'll definitely try again one day though!

mine is in a 3 -5 gallon pot and i put the pot close to the place i wanted it and forgot it. now its rooted and i havent even trimmed it in the 3 years its been in the pot. i rooted one from the momma plant that was on my property when we bought it and the momma plant hasnt even gotten out of control. i have never cut it either. mine stayed green throught the winter because we dont have to cold a winter here. if its supposed to grow fast my two are well behind the class.

I hope mine get huge. Two are doing great and, even the one in the chicken yard is growing and going to do well, I surely hope. I figure since the one in the chicken yard made it up to now that it will catch up with the others as spring continues to roll in. I'm glad I made this selection, I love flowering evergreens...

A woman here in NC has a wintering-over humming bird which she
says spends half its time in her winter honeysuckle. There's a
good reason to have some!

What a fun story, Fitsy, that happened in our area once, years ago, I remember reading about it in the paper...certainly a good reason to have winter honeysuckle, just in case!

I have a wintering-over hummer, too. So when I heard about the hummer
coming to winter honeysuckle, I hurried to the nursery and bought one just
a-blooming in its pot. I set it out, and it is blooming away.

The hummer is a female Rufus, looks like. It begins coming to feeder at
crack of dawn, 45 minutes before sunup. In freezing weather, I put feeder
indoors at night, and out again early!

Fits, I'm in zone 8a and I've heard similar stories. Wish it had happened to me, I love hummers, but I don't have a chance as the cotton fields draw them with their wall to wall blooms...tho later in the season...