gudrun
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Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: hemet calif.

Honeysuckle

Hi, I am Gudrun and I have question. I would like to grow some honeysuckle and would like to know if I can grow it as a bush or do I have to supply support for the vines.. Thanks , Gudrun

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Hi and welcome to the Forum! Hope you find it friendly and helpful.

Re your question .. that depends on what kind of honeysuckle you want to grow. There is Japanese honeysuckle which is a large shrub, needing no support. In my part of the country, it is horribly invasive, takes over everything and you do not want to plant one.

There is also a closely related wild honeysuckle vine, which could grow up a trellis, but usually grows as a ground cover. It is also aggressive and invasive.

Then there is honeysuckle trumpet vine. The native one, Lonicera sempervirens, coral trumpet honeysuckle, is evergreen or semi-evergreen (sempervirens translates as evergreen) vine, well behaved, attractive to hummingbirds and a very nice yard plant. It does need an arbor or trellis etc, to climb.

gudrun
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Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: hemet calif.

Thanks for your reply. I have 2 new plants still in pots and hope I can use them for bushes. Tha nursery couldn't give me an answer to make sense of so I'm back.

Tecomaria Capensis... ( Cape Honey ) Do you have any info on this species

Thank You, Gudrun

cynthia_h
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Location: El Cerrito, CA

From Sunset's Western Garden Book (which I strongly recommend for anyone gardening in the western states or provinces):

"T. capensis. Cape Honeysuckle. Vine or shrub. Zones 12, 13, 20-24, H1, H2; with protection in 14, 15, 18, 19. From South Africa. If tied to a support, can scramble to 15-30 ft.; with hard pruning, makes an upright shrub 6-8 ft. tall, 4-5 ft. wide. Shiny dark green leaflets give it a fine-textured look. Brilliant orange-red flowers in compact clusters appear from fall into spring (almost all year in Hawaii). Takes wind, salt air. Use as espalier, bank cover (especially good on hot, steep slopes) coarse barrier hedge. Little water." (p. 628)

BTW, Hemet is in Sunset climate zone 19. Another reason to love the Sunset book--Sunset climate zones! :D

HTH.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9



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