If you've ever worried about honeysuckle taking over the world, eating your house, or wondered how closely it's related to kudzu - well, you've been right to worry and wonder.
Two springs ago I planted two (what was I thinking??) honeysuckle vines to grow up each side of a shed and cover the roof. Unfortunately, the marauders didn't stop there. Now the roof is smothered with fragrant flowers, as is the entire shed.
Why did I plant two? I was enchanted with the pale, creamy, supremely fragrant Lonicera periclymenum 'Graham Stuart Thomas' and thought it would look beautiful mingling with the more common, nearly as fragrant, orange-blooming honeysuckle. And it does, but next time I might choose one kind or another...
On a recent warm afternoon, I opened the window wide near the shed and the scent of honeysuckle drifted through the house - it was the first time I believed summer might really be here.
Really - there's a shed under these flowers....
But the rapacious vines aren't satisfied with the shed - look closely at the photo below, and you'll see the mosaic birdhouse by Clare Dohna they've nearly swallowed up as they spread out to colonize the garden....the fragrance and color and hummingbirds are worth the near constant pruning to keep these wild vines under control (more or less....)....
