Shrubby Lonicera: There are honeysuckles for winter fragrance no matter how cold it gets

摘要

When gardeners consider using honeysuckle it is usually the climbing types that are thought of first, particularly the native hedgerow species Lonicera periclymenum, L. japonica and their many cultivars. But the shrubby honeysuckles can provide structure and scent for the garden border that should not be forgotten. Lonicera is a large, diverse and generally long-lived genus, consisting of up to 240 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs and climbers with opposite leaves and tubular, funnel- or trumpet-shaped flowers ranging in colour from white or yellow to pink, purple or scarlet, borne in pairs or whorls. These are followed by berries in a range of different colours and some species have exfoliating bark.