Lonicera, Hall's Honeysuckle, Japanese Honeysuckle 'Halliana'

20 years now since I planted it in full sun/sand. Sorriest thing I ever planted. No longer flowers but dramatically rampant. Into the ...Read Morenearby woods and neighbor's yard, up a fast growing Acacia, overran iris, lilac and flowering quince, coming up under a big spread of Kinnikinnick. Every few years I go out and pull, pull, pull. It'd take some hard core persistence to rid my yard of it.

The European woodbine (Lonicera periclymenoides) is a well-behaved substitute for the thuggish Japanese honeysuckle. It looks very simila...Read Morer and has a strong sweet fragrance in the evening. 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 and the southeast.

This species is rapidly spread to wild areas by seed through the birds that eat the fruit. It may not spread quickly within your garden (though it often spreads aggressively underground), but that doesn't mean it isn't a threat to wild areas in your vicinity. BONAP shows that it's naturalized in 42 of the lower 48 states. It's even a problem in Arizona, where the birds deposit seeds along waterways.

2% glyphosate herbicide is an effective means of control. It can be applied in late fall to minimize collateral damage.

My mother bought this plant at Home Depot in 1997 and planted it in the far backyard corner of what was to become my house a few years la...Read Moreter. It was pretty at first, but the thing completely took over the entire back corner of the yard by the time I owned the property and was rapidly marching its way across the yard to take over EVERYTHING.

Pruning it back was futile. Every time it would immediately grow right back, harder and faster. Cutting off water didn't stop it either, it still grew from rain water. It also pushed it's roots into the neighborhood flood irrigation system, which meant it could never be stopped.

I had two peach trees and an apple tree back there that this invasive vine choked to death. It wraps it's evil vines around the trunks of the fruit trees and then SQUEEZES the life out of them like a boa constrictor. It's vines get hard and grow as big as the tree's own branches to camouflage itself, making it difficult to discern which plant is which when trying to chop and untangle the vine from the trees. The vines get so thick on the ground and up in the trees that it completely blocks out the sun for every living thing around it. It bushes out in the tree canopy and shades out the very tree it is climbing. You can't walk without tripping on vines. Lawn mowers and chain saws are worthless -- the vines just constantly get tangled up inside your motor and jam it up. Spraying isn't feasible either considering the thing spans hundreds of feet and is way up overhead in the tree canopy.

It has been over a decade trying to get this Hall's Honeysuckle vine under control. I got smart and used nature against nature. Planted some super fast growing desert shade trees that are also somewhat invasive in that they grow so fast without any water and they self seed themselves. The shade trees grow straight up with very few branches down at ground level, making it easier to cut off vines climbing up. Whenever I saw the vine going up in one of the trees, I immediately cut it off at the trunk so that the shade tree could grow up higher and faster, casting a thick shade over the vines below.

After developing a mini-forest of dense shade trees, I finally have enough shade that the vine has stopped expanding and I think I have a chance at taking it out for good. I quit my day job this fall and work full time chopping up the vine on the ground, pulling its roots out as much as possible. I know it will come back in the spring from the roots that couldn't be pulled out, but hopefully I can spray as it leafs out to kill the final remaining roots and eradicate this horrible, HORRIBLE plant.

I have to agree with "ibchuckd's" statement about the invasive comments.

I moved into a home that has a 35 year old 'Hall...Read More's Honeysuckle' and have done absolutely nothing to it. It has grown to 12' high and spread to about 6-8' wide. It is on a cyclone fence, separating us from a noisy neighbor, who likes to bark at her dog, very loudly! She doesn't know how to talk, just yells all the time!

It doesn't help with the sound, but it sure gives us some privacy and I only wished more of it was planted to completely separate us. But alas, it hasn't grown any more since I've moved in. So, I planted some 'Rose of Sharon' sticks I received from a certain mail order company. Hoping that the combo would do the job.

My 'Hall's' is not invasive. But with some vines, one must know that, when you want to plant a vine. You should consider the fact that it might spread to other plants or areas where you don't want it to grow. Plant your vines where they will easily spread without causing any challenges to your yard. Otherwise, don't buy vines, unless you want to grow them in pots.

I have no roots spreading and actually have taking some of the branches that touch the ground, which had some root on them and put them in a pot. Once they are bigger, I will plant them along my fence, as a dust control from the desert and a utility road that backs right up to my fence, where everyone with utility vehicles like to race. (Talk about invasive, aren't utility vehicles running all over forest preserves, deserts, etc. considered invasive?)

You can't beat the fragrance! I have a screened in porch and enjoy drinking my coffee out there in the morning, smelling the beautiful fragrance. Also watching the wildlife enjoying the honeysuckle, too.

I have at least four different birds, making my honeysuckle their home, including generations of doves and quail. Especially during the hunting seasons. I am happy to see my honeysuckle keeps them safe. I don't have any bees, but do get the butterflies and humming birds as well.

I always search on this site and on other sites about plants that I'm thinking of purchasing. This way, I don't plant plants that are considered problem plants. I think it is a good idea if everyone did this before going out and buying that pretty plant at the store. Just and idea.....

Invasive here in the north half of Indiana. Seedlings are rare, but when they do happen, the untended vines take over sites like a stret...Read Morech of fencerow across the road from our farm.

The evergreen and near evergreen character of the foliage is an important vulnerability that can be exploited to facilitate removal. As with the related Lonicera tartarica, a glyphosate herbicide like Round-Up, applied when everything else has shed its foliage, say, a mild day in November, will kill the stuff pretty extensively. You are still stuck with hand weeding if there are broadleaf or needle evergreens on your site. .

Why is it that so many people think that because a plant is invasive in their region that it has to be invasive everywhere else also? I k...Read Morenow some of you think the world revolves around you, but get a clue--this is the World Wide Web you're posting to--so, please qualify your comments to the area you live and quit assuming that a bird in my desert is pooping its seeds in your rainforest over a 1000-miles away!

Beautiful vine, not for lazy gardeners. it is a little invasive in my area but monthly checks, pruning and weekly checks in spring keeps ...Read Moreit tidy. and as for underground runners its very easy to keep in control, vines don't like acid at all, so if i see a volunteer coming out of nowhere all i have to do is to pull it out and spray vinegar on the rest, it works for me in Dallas, tx. the smell is heavenly in the morning, it starts blooming in early spring and bloom (not as heavily as in spring an fall) throughout summer, very easy to multiply if u want to.
happy gardening

Yes - this plant is "invasive", but sometimes that is what you need. My yard gets full sun most days and is on a hill - so I get every s...Read Moreemi-invasive species from the whole neighborhood from money plants, to mulberry, to juniper, to mimosas (silk trees). Many of these hard to contain and don't flower nicely, etc. etc. So- I love our honeysuckle - which by the way was being choked out by the juniper and "money bush". It grows fast, and if you let it get settled it can be easy to maintain so it doesn't spread. I have it along the fence, it controls other invasives, to control it I just cut near the fence and pull the runners is the beginning of spring. The kids love it, and the everything is attracted to it including bees which is great for my yard because it keeps the bees from being attracted to our drinks, food, etc. AND the skunks don't like it (probably b/c of the bees) unlike the wild strawberries which I cannot get rid of - uh. So if you need a low maint. invasive for a large area I actually reccommend this plant.

This plant does very well in the heat of the Las Vegas valley. I cut it back pretty hard in late fall, and it is now 10 feet tall and 4 f...Read Moreeet across, growing on a trellis. I have 3 plants and they are all doing well with afternoon shade. The plants have been in about 5 years.

mine was planted seven years ago in a spot that gets about 2-3 hours of sun; i keep it quite dry; it has grown about 3 feet tall in all t...Read Morehese years; the Colorado state noxious weed list includes no species of Lonicera

People keep commenting "It isn't invasive for me" But I don't think they properly understand...

Hall's Honeysuckle won't r...Read Moree-seed in an established lawn or well mulched bed, it's in disturbed fields or woodland areas that these become invasive and become a serious issue. I'm not scolding and shouting "RIP IT OUT", but those who don't think it's "Invasive for them", should know, yes it is.

I originally had three plants when I lived in the NW, planted at the base of my deck (two story house). I kept close watch to train them ...Read Moreup a trellis and every year I took out the garden shears and chopped them waaaaaaay back. They loved it. The grew back fuller and in better shape, never getting scraggely or yellow. When I sold the house they were over 12 feet tall. The fragance of the flowers is intoxicating. I would lie in bed at night with the door open and let the room fill with it's sweetness. In the morning I would wake up and look out to see many, many hummingbirds, butterflies and bee's working hard feeding from it.

I live in Iowa now where winter's can drop to -25 F during the winter. All three of my plants survived last year. I am training them to a trellis right now to add privacy from my neighbor. The flower might not be as "dramatic" as other honeysuckles but what the plant lacks in beauty it definately makes up in it's intoxicating aroma. How can a plant that attracts so much nature (birds, butterflies, bee's...) to it be so terrible? I vote two thumbs up for Hall's Honeysuckle.

I bought one last spring at a local nursery and it has grown well did well through winter. I have not seen any blooms as of yet. It is st...Read Moreaying within the area I gave it. It really adds to our backyard. It is way easier to keep contained then the wild morning glory that takes over everything and kills off my vegetables and other flowers in our back garden. Idaho can be difficult to find things that weather our harsh winters. Even things zoned for our area dont always make it through our winters.

I know that this plant is supposed to be invasive, but I have had two growing on a wrought iron fence for 7 years and they have never got...Read Moreten more than 6 ft high in my area and they definately are not spreading. One of them didn't make it through this past winter and I have had a hard time replacing it because of it's invasive reputation. I finally found another one on online and I'm thrilled. I am a responsible gardener and keep my plants trimmed.
On the other hand, my neighbor has a Forsythia that to me seems like an invasive plant. It is growing through the 4' stone wall that divides our properties and I constantly have to cut it back!

This is an exotic invasive, and banned in several New England states, and problematic in many others. It readily escapes into the wilds ...Read Morethrough being spread by birds, and should not be grown in the U.S.

We have three Hall's Honeysuckle in containers on a second floor balcony, so there are no issues with invasiveness. But like many others,...Read More I have found it to be a bit scraggly looking, with very few blooms, and scattered yellowing leaves. It keeps plugging away, though, with constant new growth.

I bought this plant when I lived in Oregon City, OR and I just loved it! I put it in my border, on the corner by the stairs, up against t...Read Morehe west-facing wall at the 4-plex that I owned. At night, when you walked by you would catch a wiff of the fragrant blossoms and it just made you feel good. I never really had a problem with it being invasive, or overly sloppy. The only downside was that I wished I could have created a taller trellis for the plant so it could show off its beauty.

Yes, it does get a little straggly in the winter months, and some of the leaves do turn yellow, but hey, it's Oregon! And out here you just go with the flow. So you pick off the yellow leaves if they bother you, it's no big deal.

When I bought my house in Portland two years ago I purposely went looking for another honeysuckle to replace the one I left behind. I found a replacement honeysuckle two days ago and have it resting against the backyard chain link fence waiting to be transplanted. As soon as the rain lets up (later today) I'm going to tuck it into its new home. With a bit of luck, this plant will hide the (lovely) view of my neighbor's weed-ridden back yard, lol.

Several years ago I bought 2 Hall's Honeysuckles to grow on an arbor in part sun. They are growing nicely, not being invasive and smell w...Read Moreonderful when they bloom. Since I live in an arid region I don't think they will become a problem invading nearly areas. I haven't seen any small ones comming up anywhere. Also, the hardyness goes down to at least -18F and the plants still retain some green leaves.

There are uses for such an invasive plant. My son's newer house in an Atlanta suburb is on a steeply wooded lot, and the developer dug in...Read More a large underground pipe that drains the street for about 100 feet, and the pipe then opens into a large, deep ditch along the edge of my son's side yard. This ditch is huge--about 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and for several years it eroded into an even larger size, despite my son's efforts to terrace and plant ground covers. This ditch runs about 70 feet or so to cascade over a 12 foot drop into a very large "detention" pond.

This elaborate drainage system was mandated by the County and the State of Georgia to mitigate silt run off into the highly polluted Chattahoochee River about 15 miles away. However, the ditch was an eyesore and a dangerous attractant to all the little kids in the neighborhood, so my son fenced off the back yard, including the ditch, which was not an easy task.

While he was fencing, he noticed this very fragrant evergreen volunteer plant growing on one side of the bank, and I identified it as Hall's Honeysuckle, a well known plant from my Southern childhood. I knew it was invasive, but it seemed just the thing to tame this ugly ditch, and over the last three years the plant has covered one side of the bank, grown up the fence to make a nice screen for my son's backyard, and is starting to grow on the other side of the bank. Soon the ugly ditch will be just a mound of deep green, with fragrant flowers to waft to the back patio. Both my son and his neighbor keep the plant just in the ditch by mowing the centipede grass lawns that surround the ditch. As centipede grass is a runner grass that forms dense mats and competes quite well with just about anything, this makes a nice duo.

Of course we know it it invasive, but taking this one huge plant out won't make any difference--the species is naturalized--and it serves the quite useful purposes of controlling erosion and covering an eyesore. Sometimes you have to compromise, and it is a beautiful plant.

Japanese honeysuckle invades fields, forest edges and openings, disturbed woods, and floodplains, in eastern North America, where it spre...Read Moreads rapidly and outcompetes native vegetation by vigorous above- and below-ground competition. Once established, the vine may literally engulf small trees and shrubs, which collapse under the weight, and few plants survive beneath the dense canopy. It has also escaped cultivation at scattered locations in California and in Hawaii where it has the potential to become a severe pest in mesic and wet forest areas.

Japanese honeysuckle has few natural enemies in North America and is difficult to control once established. Thus, the best and most effective control method is to prevent its establishment by surveying a site for its presence regularly and immediately destroying every plant located. Unfortunately Japanese honeysuckle is difficult to locate when small and without careful attention may go unnoticed until it is well established.

Because Japanese honeysuckle is so difficult to control once established, an appropriate control program goal is 100% kill of all plants in the target area. Removing above-ground stems by cutting pulling or burning will temporarily weaken, but not kill, Japanese honeysuckle as it will resprout from subterranean buds and roots, and from cut branchlets.

Ordered bare roots online and planted them and forgot about them. I love things that grow beautifully even if neglected.

I ordered two of these from a catalogue that said they would grow and bloom in sun or shade and would cover a large area in the first yea...Read Morer. I needed a climbing vine for a shaded area so fell for the pitch. This is the second year with no blooms and the growth is scraggly at best. There was no real soil in the area that I needed these so I planted them in large pots with good soil for better growth. Having read the other comments here, I'm glad that I kept them confined.

I read in a gardening book that it would be good for covering a huge hole in my fense so I got one. The problem was it hardy bloomed at a...Read Morell. I did not like it because it got too big, and had to be trimmed constandly. Much work but little reward.

Unattractive within a few years. Though rugged enough to live in the worst of circumstance (sandy soil, non-stop all day sun, neglect, e...Read Moretc.), the branching dies to the ground and resprouts off to unused directions in the spring. Also sprawled all over the ground (rooting) and into my neighbor's yard. It's just a pain to keep up with and not good looking enough to put up with it's workload. Maybe it'd be better in a small confined area so it wouldn't be such a fight. This is troublesome in bad soil/harsh conditions, I'm guessing it'd be a full time job in good soil/good conditions.

Great for the Great Lakes region. It is almost evergreen and very fragrant. Blooms almost all summer but most heavily in the spring. E...Read Morevery year it is thicker and taller. Put it on a tall trellis and it will screen everything.

This is an introduced plant, and here in the Mid-Atlantic states it is a pest. Birds scatter the seeds, and it creeps into, on, and over ...Read Moreany plants, esp. shrubs, fencerows and shaded areas. It is very hard to eradicate - I spend a good portion of every year just keeping it at bay, but never defeating it. I have given up on fencerows, as the roots are impossible to get at, and they break off below ground, and resprout stronger than ever in days. Last fall I hauled a pickup load of roots away from one 2,000 s/f groundcover area. I first mowed it to the ground, after Hostas and Convallaria were dormant. The Ivy area and the Vinca areas will regrow, but it is a real pain to seperate the good roots from the bad. A couple of weeks work, just to keep it under moderate control.

Other, less invasive honeysuckles are fine - both vining and shrub forms. This one attacks like Kudzu does further to the south.