Small white flowers, delicately scented, open along the branches of a bushy shrub of 3 to 6½ feet while most of the garden sleeps. Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera standishii) is grown for that out-of-season perfume, in a border, a pot or a clipped hedge; give it sun and well drained soil that stays cool, and it asks for almost nothing else.
| Name | Lonicera standishii |
|---|---|
| Family | Caprifoliaceae (honeysuckle family) |
| Type | shrub |
| Height | 3 to 6 ½ feet (1 to 2 meters) |
| Exposure | full sun |
| Soil | ordinary |
| Foliage | deciduous or evergreen |
| Flowering | midwinter to spring |
Caring for it is easy and both foliage and blooming are extremely ornamental.
Honeysuckles are planted in fall, but it’s also possible to plant them up to spring. Apart from these two ideal periods, avoid freezing and sweltering heat.
As for placing, favor any sunbathed exposure.
Everything this shrub asks for happens at a precise point in the year. Here are the four moments that matter, with what to do at each.
| Task | Season | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Planting | Early autumn, and up to mid-spring | Avoid periods of freezing and of sweltering heat |
| Flowering | Midwinter to early spring | Delicately fragrant white flowers, in the ground or in pots |
| Reshaping prune | After flowering ends | Only to reshape the shrub or balance the branches |
| Hard prune | Late winter, once blooming is over | Trim back severely when growth turns sparse; it recovers well |
Left to itself, the shrub still performs: pruning is a choice, not a duty.
It isn’t really necessary to prune it: your honeysuckle can do well without ever being pruned.
When your honeysuckle starts growing a bit sparse, it is also possible to trim it back severely, it will recover with renewed growth beautifully.
Winter honeysuckle, or Lonicera standishii, is a bushy shrub that produces delicately fragrant flowers in winter.
This plant boasts white flowers that will decorate our gardens in winter, either planted in the ground or in pots.
Although the foliage is evergreen, in colder climates it is only partially evergreen, and might lose some of its leaves.
Winter honeysuckles are also perfectly suited to shaping into a hedge.
