Evergreen Honeysuckles

mattbat7

Hi,

Looking for recommendations for evergreen honeysuckle varieties to cover a 6ft high fence (see my other post).

We’re looking for something that provides a good spread and focal interest throughout the year for an east facing location.

Given we want to hide around 8m of fencing we are thinking to combine a couple of different evergreen varieties.

Also any advice on planting frequency would be appreciated.

K67

Lonicera japonica repens is evergreen although it can lose it's leaves in colder winters but if you look at this thread
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1050579/honeysuckle-what-to-do-next#latest
You can see sone of us  haven't had much success.

mattbat7

Any other suggestions for an evergreen honeysuckle?

Yviestevie

I have one but I have no idea of the variety I think it was just called winter honeysuckle.  It flowers in December, January and February and is a magnet for bees on mild winter days.  The flowers smell beautiful but aren't very showy.  It is on an east facing fence.

mattbat7

We were looking at  the ‘copper beauty’ variety given the leave colouration but this appears to be only semi-evergreen....we’ll take a look at the winter honeysuckle as an option but is there any variety that flowers in summer but does not loose it foliage?

Marlorena

Lonicera japonica 'Halliana' is much the best, very long flowering and heavily scented.. very vigorous and rampant.. just what you need..  evergreen even if a little sparse during winter..
..'Hall's Prolific' is supposed to be identical, I'm not sure if this is the American name for the same plant... I have grown both and for some reason I felt 'Halliana' was the longer flowering plant, and it grew larger..

delski

@mattbat7 If you choose 'halliana' be aware that it will take a couple of years to settle into the ground before it becomes vigorous. I planted mine last year and expected it to cover a 6ft fence in one season. Not as vigorous as I expected. Not even a single flower.

mattbat7

Thanks for the advice, we’ll take a look at the ‘halliana’ variety.

Given how rampant/vigourous it appears to be....is it relatively easy to maintain at a sensible level?

Marlorena

Yes... hard prune back the side shoots in Spring.. it flowers on new growth, and the harder your prune it, the better...  you can shorten the main framework at the same time if it goes beyond what you require..   in my experience it's very fast growing and blooms in the first year.. providing you get yourself a decent plant in a 2 or 3 litre pot..  it is sometimes sold as rooted cuttings in 9cm pots... I cannot vouch for those..

Joyce Goldenlily

Lonicera  fragrantissima is the winter flowering bush honeysuckle, mine has been in full flower for the last few weeks. Not a climber, semi evergreen, but glorious frangrance. Had you considered other evergreen climbers with flowers later in the year. Could give you more choice, especially if scent is not a prerequisite.
There are evergreen clematis, cotoneasters, ivies,lapergera, wisteria, jasmine to name but a few.

Bijdezee

Lonicera 'henryii' is evergreen but the down side is that the flowers are not showy although the bees love it. It doesn't seem to have much of a fragrance either. I think the problem is that the showy and fragrant ones are deciduous only. Hope you find something to suit though