Honeysuckle Vine #71

Temperature:  40-85 degrees Fahrenheit

The sun is shining, the smell of honey has filled the air, and the beauty of pink, yellow, white and purple flowers surrounds you.  The hummingbirds greet you as you step out your back door ...what a perfect morning.  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy...here is how. 

Honeysuckle vines are easy to grow.  They are heat tolerant and require very little maintenance.  Honeysuckle plants prefer full sun, but will tolerate partial shade.  Water your free plant moderately, and like most plants make sure it is planted in well drained soil.  Fertilize the Honeysuckle in the beginning of the growing season and then once again in the middle of the blooming seasons. Honeysuckle vines will grow to be sixteen feet tall; this will take about twenty years.  Some common uses are to plant them around fences, as an arbor or to cover flower beds.  Plant your Honeysuckle two to three feet apart.  Prune your honeysuckle vine in the autumn or early winter.  You can cut them back until they are twenty four inches in height, I would not recommend cutting any further than that.

Many people drink the nectar right off of the flower, it is liquid candy!  Pick a Honeysuckle flower off your vine and clip the very base of the flower with your nails then suck the juice out.  Each flower only produces one drop of this sweet nectar but  it is the sweetest tasting nectar ever. The nectar is very safe to consume, but the berries are not, they are very toxic.

 When I think of Honeysuckle I picture a girl in a white sundress dancing in a field full of them.  It’s with memories like these that so many people have written songs and stories about Honeysuckle.  Why not create your own memories and plant one in your backyard?

Enjoy your Free Plant!