Native Plant of the Week: Coral Honeysuckle
- Kimberly Simmen
- May 16, 2022
- 2 min read
Family: Caprifoliaceae
Name: Lonicera sempervirens
Bloom Time: May - June
Flower: Coral red
Soil Condition: Average, moist, well-drained
Light: Sun to partial sun
Height: 15-25' tall by 3-6' wide
Native Range: Eastern and Southern US, including Long Island
Zone: 4 to 9
Photos: Top Row: flower buds, flower, Snowberry clearwing moth caterpillar; Bottom Row: Hummingbird moth, coral honeysuckle on entrance arbor, female cardinal in nest
Coral honeysuckle is a great vine for climbing an arbor, chain link fence or allowed to ramble as a ground cover or cascading over a wall. The showy tubular flowers are a showstopper when in bloom and a hummingbird favorite. Prime bloom time is in late spring but it blooms all the way into fall (sometimes still blooming in January - depending on the winter). The leaves are greenish gray and remain attractive throughout the growing season. Red berries form in late summer to fall and are a magnet for songbirds, but not edible for humans. Tolerates shady spots but will not flower as well as it does in full sun. If you don't have the room in your garden, it's also fantastic in a planter with a trellis on a patio.
Maintenance: Needs a little help getting started to climb as it lacks tendrils and aerial roots. Prune as needed immediately after flowering as it blooms on new and old wood. Susceptible to aphids, but these are usually just a cosmetic nuisance (remember hummingbirds and beneficial insects eat these).
Benefits: Host plant to spring azure butterfly, hummingbird moth, snowberry clearwing moth, nectar source, pollinators especially bumble bees and hummingbirds, juglone resistant (Black Walnut).
Companion Plants: Monarda didyma - Bee Balm, Agastache foeniculum - Anise Hyssop, Diervilla lonicera - Bush Honeysuckle, Echinacea purpurea - Purple Coneflower, Penstemon hirsutus - Hairy Beardtongue, Monarda fistulosa - Wild Bergamot
Cultivars:
Lonicera sempervirens 'John Clayton' is a yellow flowering variety with the same traits as the straight species and is also a host plant
Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' is the most prolific bloomer of the native Honeysuckles and is the same color as the straight species and is also a host plant
pics: KMS Native Plants LLC (Snowberry Clearwing Moth Caterpillar)
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