“Lonicera maackii – Amur Honeysuckle” – Summer 2013 – Hamnett Way – Wilkinsburg, PA
A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…
9 Days to Go
Lonicera maackii… A shrub variety of Honeysuckle… Known by the common names “Amur Honeysuckle” and “Bush Honeysuckle”… Is an endangered species in its native habitat of Asia.. But it is a noxious exotic-invasive here in the eastern United States… So invasive that it has been banned in 5 states…
Lonicera japonica… Better known as “Japanese Honeysuckle”… Is another highly invasive plant native to Asia… The big difference between “maackii” and “japonica” is the latter is a scrambling vine that can grow 30′ into the canopy of a tree… Japanese Honeysuckle forms a dense mat of tangled vine that regularly reaches 2′ deep… Any plants but the fastest growing species are choked out…
I have yet to get into a fight with Honeysuckle that I would consider myself to have won… Although I can eliminate it… It takes a great deal of effort… The bush variety (Lonicera maackii) must be dug out… This can be nearly impossible given the dense fibrous root system… Honestly… I typically call a friend with a truck… 100′ of chord and a choke-chain… Once they are popped out of the ground the issue of disposal will pop up… The last group of these I pulled probably weighed around 300 – 400 pounds a piece… In the end they required a front loader to load onto the dump truck…
I must admit… Being surrounded in Honeysuckle is not all bad… In the early Summer months when the air is warm and still… The sweet scent of Honeysuckle permeates the humid air… I swear… There is nothing like it… When the breeze blows the scent seems to travel with the morning fog… I tend to write about the scent a lot… To me… Nothing inspires like the sweet scent of Honeysuckle… After drinking my morning coffee for the past ten years among the smell of Honeysuckle… I look forward to it every year…
Another fun quality of Honeysuckle is the nectar contained within the flower is edible and sweet tasting… After picking the flower the base is torn off… The flower is now like a small straw… The taste of the nectar is sweet and minimal… Children love this… I have had the neighborhood children pick this plant clean… And not only were they helping me eliminate the chance of seeds forming… They were staying out of trouble… Even if just for a few moments…
plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello
If you want some science I recommend the following links
Honeysuckle – A general Wikipedia article
Lonicera maackii – The bush variety
Lonicera japonica – the Vining variety
These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…
This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… You can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com
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