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Invasive Vine
Lonicera japonica · Japanese Honeysuckle
Current Invaded Range: New England, Wisconsin, and California, south to Florida, Texas, and Arizona
Native Alternative
Lonicera sempervirens · Scarlet Honeysuckle
Attributes at a Glance
Lonicera sempervirens
- Well-behaved deciduous vine
- Scarlet flowers
- Small red berries
- Gray-green leaves
- Exfoliating winter bark
Native Habitat and Range
Low open woods, woodland margins, and roadsides from Connecticut to Nebraska, south to Florida and Texas
Hardiness Range
Zones 4 to 8
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
A twining vine 10 to 12 feet long, with succulent young stems that age to brown with exfoliating bark, this is an aristocrat among native vines, valued for its prolific flowers and decorative sea-green foliage. The leaves are opposite at the nodes, but below the flower clusters they form a shield-shaped ring around the stem. Small red berries add a color note in summer and autumn.
Growing Tips
Plant in evenly moist, sandy or loamy soil in full sun or partial shade. The plant blooms freely all season given ample light. It may be rangy but seldom grows vigorously enough to become a nuisance. Trim scarlet honeysuckle as needed to control its size and promote continued flowering. Powdery mildew may cover the foliage in hot, dry weather, but it has little effect on the plant's health. Spray it with baking soda mixed with water for control.
Related Alternatives
Lonicera ciliosa (orange honeysuckle), found in cooler regions from British Columbia, south to Montana and California, is a similar vining species with red-orange to cerise flowers. It does not tolerate excessive heat. Lonicera dioica, limber honeysuckle, is a similar shrubby to vining species with yellow to orange flowers. It is found from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan, south to North Carolina and Oklahoma.
Native Alternative
Clematis columbiana · Rock Clematis
Attributes at a Glance
Clematis columbiana
- Climbing vine
- Nodding blue-purple flowers
- Plumed seed heads
- Yellow autumn color
Native Habitat and Range
Mountain slopes and rock outcroppings from Manitoba to British Columbia, south to Texas and Oregon
Hardiness Range
Zones 4 to 7
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
Pendent flowers with four petallike sepals in rich blue-purple grace the rambling to climbing stems of this showy vine in summer. The ternately compound leaves with pointed, narrowly oval leaflets turn yellow in autumn. The flowers give way to powder puffs of seeds with long plumes. A mature vine may reach six to eight feet. Use it as a groundcover or train it on a fence or lattice.
Growing Tips
Plant in moist but well-drained, neutral, humus-rich soil in full sun to light shade. This clematis scrambles over rocks and shrubs but can be trained up suitable supports. Prune after flowering, as this species flowers on year-old wood.
Related Alternatives
Clematis texensis, scarlet clematis, is a Texas endemic with nodding, tubular red flowers with flared tips to the sepals. Clematis viorna, leatherflower, is a wide-ranging vine with quilted, trifoliate leaves and tubular purple flowers throughout the summer. It is found from Pennsylvania to Missouri, south to Georgia and Arkansas.
More Native Alternatives
Campsis radicans, trumpet vine—Pennsylvania to Missouri, south to Florida and Texas. Gelsemium sempervirens, Carolina jessamine—Virginia and Arkansas, south to Florida, Texas, and Louisiana. Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia creeper—Quebec, Manitoba, and Utah, south to Florida and Texas. For a list of additional native plants, visit www.bbg.org/nativealternatives.
C. Colston Burrell is a garden designer, photographer, naturalist, and award-winning author. He gardens on ten wild acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he grows natives and the best plants of the global garden. He is principal of Native Landscape Design and Restoration, which specializes in blending nature and culture through artistic design. Cole has written many books on gardening and plants, and he is a contributing editor for Horticulture and writes regularly for Fine Gardening, Landscape Architecture, and American Gardener. He has edited or contributed to more than a dozen Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks, including most recently Intimate Gardens (2005), Spring-Blooming Bulbs (2002), and The Sunny Border (2002). In addition to writing, Cole lectures in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia as well as internationally on topics of design, plants, and ecology, drawing from a lifetime of studying native plants in the wild and in gardens as well as from his experience as a curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
Photo credits, in order of appearance: Chuck Bargeron and Jerry Pavia