Lonicera, Purple-Leaf Japanese Honeysuckle 'Purpurea'

This cultivar is as destructive as the species.

The European woodbine (Lonicera periclymenoides) is a well-behaved substit...Read Moreute for the thuggish Japanese honeysuckle. It is highly fragrant and looks very similar. It is neither aggressive in the garden nor a threat to natural areas.

Japanese honeysuckle has been prohibited in three states and been declared a noxious weed in one other. It is a huge ecological problem throughout the eastern US.

Not only does Japanese honeysuckle strangle and disfigure the trees and shrubs in your garden, in wild areas its early leafing shades out all the native woodland understory wildflowers, ultimately killing them.

I've seen huge natural areas turn into ecological deserts covered by Japanese honeysuckle and Asiatic bittersweet. You can witness this by driving almost any interstate in the midatlantic states.

This species is rapidly spread by seed through the birds that eat the fruit.

2% glyphosate herbicide is an effective means of control.

I planted this vine in March of 2010. It hasn't been invasive at all and survived two of our coldest winters here in Central FL very well...Read More. Gets full sun until about two and the shaded most the rest of the day, and twice a week irrigation. Other than that I don't do a thing but trim back some stray branches. Flowers smell really nice, and the foliage is pretty with the purple coloring.

Two years ago I planted this vine on a north facing wall that gets some refracted light. So far nothing invasive to report. It is calml...Read Morey growing up a decorative trellis against our house, has very interesting purplish leaves but flowers are not surprisingly few due to the lack of sun. I'll see how it does this year and if it gets just enough flowers to be fragrant then I will keep it there. Just a thought...maybe the marginal location has kept it from being invasive.

I rue the day I planted this vine. It has taken over the 30ft x 30ft bed that it was planted in 3 years ago, smothering everything in it'...Read Mores path. I can't get rid of it because I can't even find the mother plant anymore. HELP!