@bertrand-mabel Awwww how lovely ❤️😊 what a lovely reminder of your father - and 40+ years still going strong, that’s amazing! Thank you for sharing 😊 Do you have a photo? Would love to see ☺️ Plus someone here might be able to identify it?! 😁
It has striking scarlet flowers and attractive blue green foliage but only a slight fragrance. It is semi-evergreen which means that the amount of foliage it retains over winter depends on your location, aspect, soil type and growing conditions. I was happy to forgo a strong fragrance for its long flowering period and attractive foliage. It was covered in flowers from July to September and really stood out as a feature. The colour is really quite striking - wow factor!
Unlike a lot of honeysuckles it was happy on a garden arch and in full sun, but will also grow in partial shade. For quick cover, I'd plant one on either side of your arch and give each plant a helping hand now and then to guide it, even though it twines naturally.
I have a semi evergreen honeysuckle in full flower at the moment but it is a bush, not a climber. Lonicera fragrantissima. It grows fairly quickly and over a few years could easily be trained up and over an arch. I have seen it grown as ahedge and as a specimen. The perfume is wonderful at this miserable time of the year and for some reason, blackbirds seem to like to nest in it. It doesn't seem to worry about where it is planted.
I'm not sure there are any truly evergreen honeysuckles. Semi at best, and that would depend largely on other factors, as @Plantminded describes.
Unless the arch is huge, two would be overkill. The one @Joyce Goldenlily describes is a possibility though. There's a few which are smaller, but most are are quite thuggish.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Lonicera fragrantissima is the winter flowering honeysuckle, more shrub-like than a climber. I have one in my current garden and it is another option to consider. It would give you flowers and fragrance in winter - why not put one on one side of your arch and a Lonicera x brownii "Dropmore Scarlet" on the other. That way you get a longer season of flowers, plus scent in winter, a very welcome feature at this time as @Joyce Goldenlily says.
From my experience Dropmore Scarlet is not a thug, it is quick growing though and will give you adequate cover for your arch in one growing season. After that, just some judicious pruning required. Also make sure your plant is fed and watered properly to reduce the risk of powdery mildew in the summer. Good luck!
We have Lonicera henryi "copper beauty". It is another semi evergreen, although it's always been evergreen here, but is described as mostly hardy, although we have had it for many years and it's sailed through every winter. It has nice glossy foliage with coppery new leaves but it can grow a bit strongly. I also have drop more scarlet and it's probably the nicest honeysuckle I've found for a situation with more sun. I agree with plantminded that it isn't thuggish. I don't have any arches so don't really know how much coverage you need but I've been conplimenting a lots of my climbers with other species to add more interest. If you dont mind a little pruning then you might be able to grow a less vigorous clematis or similar on the other side, so they gently entwine and you get a longer display. Here I have a large fence (runs the whole length of the house to the road) that transitions from a very thuggish jasmine, to a montana Rubens and then a honeysuckle with clematis freckles running through it. I'm then working on some repetition on the front fencing with some winter jasmine and different flowering honeysuckle mixed in. I have a similar mix along the fence in the back garden, so that there is always at least one, normally two, things flowering at the same time.
@fizzliz The photos don't do justice to the actual plants and as others have said they really can't be classified as true everygreens but we are never without a good amount of leaves.
The first 2 photos show the one from my father and as always when you say something is in flower, the frosts come (-6 the other night) so many of the flowers were hit. But you can see the new buds developing.
The last 2 are the winter honeysuckle. Have some in the kitchen now and the fragrance is brilliant.
Posts
Do you have a photo? Would love to see ☺️ Plus someone here might be able to identify it?! 😁
Lonicera × brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet'|honeysuckle 'Dropmore Scarlet'/RHS Gardening
It has striking scarlet flowers and attractive blue green foliage but only a slight fragrance. It is semi-evergreen which means that the amount of foliage it retains over winter depends on your location, aspect, soil type and growing conditions. I was happy to forgo a strong fragrance for its long flowering period and attractive foliage. It was covered in flowers from July to September and really stood out as a feature. The colour is really quite striking - wow factor!
Unlike a lot of honeysuckles it was happy on a garden arch and in full sun, but will also grow in partial shade. For quick cover, I'd plant one on either side of your arch and give each plant a helping hand now and then to guide it, even though it twines naturally.
Unless the arch is huge, two would be overkill. The one @Joyce Goldenlily describes is a possibility though. There's a few which are smaller, but most are are quite thuggish.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
From my experience Dropmore Scarlet is not a thug, it is quick growing though and will give you adequate cover for your arch in one growing season. After that, just some judicious pruning required. Also make sure your plant is fed and watered properly to reduce the risk of powdery mildew in the summer. Good luck!
I also have drop more scarlet and it's probably the nicest honeysuckle I've found for a situation with more sun. I agree with plantminded that it isn't thuggish. I don't have any arches so don't really know how much coverage you need but I've been conplimenting a lots of my climbers with other species to add more interest. If you dont mind a little pruning then you might be able to grow a less vigorous clematis or similar on the other side, so they gently entwine and you get a longer display. Here I have a large fence (runs the whole length of the house to the road) that transitions from a very thuggish jasmine, to a montana Rubens and then a honeysuckle with clematis freckles running through it. I'm then working on some repetition on the front fencing with some winter jasmine and different flowering honeysuckle mixed in. I have a similar mix along the fence in the back garden, so that there is always at least one, normally two, things flowering at the same time.