A Heavenly Scent
Posted: April 6, 2024 Filed under: Gardening | Tags: Gulf Coast gardening, Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica, Scents, Southern Gardening 13 Comments
On my morning walk through the garden I smelled a heady scent. I checked out my usual blooming trees, but it wasn’t any of them. I opened the back gate to the natural area and found Honeysuckle right at eye level and sure enough that was the source of the aromatic fragrance. I believe this is Lonicera japonica or Southern Honeysuckle. Like so many plants, it is not native here originally from Japan, and has become invasive. I am going by the policy “not in my backyard” and enjoy the wonderfully scented vine in the natural area, which is not allowed to be altered.
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Lovely to enjoy the scent, without it actually growing in your garden. Does it try to creep over?
This one seems rather new and I have no doubt it will try.
This was all over the place when I was growing up. We used to eat the ‘honey’ out of the flowers. My parents referred to it as Japanese revenge. It doesn’t grow this far south and I miss the scent.
It was strong as I smelled from across the yard.
Ah, one of my favorite floral fragrances. It is not invasive here in regard to seeding, although it can climb into trees and anything else that it grabs onto. It is not as popular as it used to be though, perhaps because it is not so showy.
I remember in people’s yard when I lived up north.
I got carried away with growing too much of it. I rooted a few cuttings, and then, as I pruned them, made even more cuttings. Now, there are too many to process. They are still small rooted cuttings, but they will not stay that way for long as the weather warms.
I came across some of this plant recently, and like you, I smelled it before I saw it. The scent certainly is lovely, despite its nasty tendency to creep and cover. I don’t remember seeing pollinators at it, but they surely must enjoy it.
I’ll keep checking for pollinators, as I wasn’t looking for them.
Mmm, the smell of honeysuckle takes me back to my childhood. 😃
This one’s scent seemed super sweet.
There’s some growing on our neighbor’s property and it hangs down over some trees near out potting bench. The naturalist side of me abhors it but the 3 year old in me who grew up sucking the honeysuckle sap from our back fence growing up is delighted when I smell it!
That’s what a lot of the comments have been. Great childhood memories.