You might be hardy and deciduous, sometimes evergreen, happy facing north, west or east, been awarded the RHS Garden of Merit accolade, thrive in most soil types and part shade and display an abundance of large clusters of long trumper-shaped warm orange with a coppery flush.
Which will last from mid-summer to late autumn.
But what’s the point in being a honeysuckle if you aren’t scented?
I always have always felt sorry for my Lonicer x tellesmania, It smells of nothing. Although undoubtedly pretty and lighting up the garden, I always cringe when I ses a visitor poking their nose into it, frowning and begin thinking that they may have long Covid.
Honeysuckles are one of those must-have garden plants. But they are to be inhaled.
These days people quote Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh. They no longer quote Keats or Tennyson. They declaim about fungicide and free draining , humus-rich soil rather than “ clumps of woodbine taking the soft wind upon their summer thrones”, “the woodbine spices are wafted abroad” and “starry quills exhaling fragrances …something, something!”
A clematis are far more impressive to introduce. “ This is Madame Boisellet!”, “This is Cardinal Rouge!” and “This is Lady Di.”
“May I welcome you to my Darts World!” doesn’t haven’t the same ring to it.
There is a Princess Kate honesuckle with attractive, slender, creamy whit ( a royal who likes a good liquid feed.preferably seaweed). But the names of honeysuckle are tend to be prosaic and academic -Lonicera purpurea, Red World, the highly fragrant Lonicera periclymenum Belgica with purply-red buds opening to reveal a creamy-yellow throat, the sweet creamy-white Graham Thomas, the ever-popular tubular Serotina, the dainty winter flowering Purpusii fragrantisima and evergreenm Lonicera sempervirens or ‘Trumpet honeysuckle’.
Dropmore Scarley sounds more like a horse than a thoroughbread honeysuckle. With its bright orange throats. it is one of longest-flowering honeysuckle. American Beauty (Lonicera x heckrottii Gold Flame) has wonderfully scented pink flowers with a peachy-orange throat. Cream Cascade is a semi-evergreen with striking foliage with yellow veins and white-turning=yellow flowers.
Lonicera japonica Dart’s World is a form of the Japanese honeysuckle which produces an abundance of highly scented flowers from spring to early autumn. They start from rich pink buds which open blush-pink and have a cream throat. Semi-evergreen foliage of dark green often turns red-bronze in autumn and winter. Look out for Halls Prolific, Mint Crisp and Horwood Gem. And other bee magnets.
Shrubby honeysuckles can be deciduous, semi-evergreen or fully evergreen. Evergreen types such as Lonicera nitida have small leaves that are similar to box. So can be topiarized.
Climbing honeysuckles are mostly woodland and hedgerow plants, so have evolved with their roots shaded by trees and shrubs, and their tendrils growing towarsd the light. They do well with their roots are in shade and their stems can reach sunlight.
Pruning depends on the type – climbing or shrubby. Those that flower early in the summer should be pruned after flowering. Cut back by about a third. Later flowerers should be pruned lightly in spring as they flower on the current season’s growth. You can propagate honeysuckle by taking cuttings in July and August. And by layering.
Most garden centres have the same old, same old. But mail order nurseries like Waitrose Garden, Crocus. Ashridge Nurseries, Gardening Express, Sutton’s, Morgan and Thompson, Primrose, RHS Plants and Roots plants have a wide selection of aromatic , attractive woodbines.
Climbing honeysuckles are not self-clinging, so need to be tied to a support, such as a trellis or series of tension wires fixed to the fence using vine eyes. The best compost for honeysuckle is probably loam-based John Innes No.3. Some specialists recommend Westland Gro-Sure Slow Release plant food.
Remember that honeysuckles have evolved to be pollinated by moths so are more scented at night.
Nevertheless, “Scentsensation” is as good as its name and hits you with its heady bouquet at all times.
So, the next time you see someone aiming their nostrils at your non-smelling x tellesmanniana guide them towards some the “Rhubarb and Custard “ and “Strawberries and Cream” and watch and listen to them swoon. And realize they are Covid-free
Honeysuckles are the best argument for “scratch ‘n’ sniff” plant catalogues there is.