cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/24076439
This is the entrance to the “wild” part of our garden. I’m lucky to have access to woodland close by that the council haven’t maintained, so there were lots of branches from past storms this winter. The plan is to grow honeysuckle either side and hope it covers most of it, providing food and shelter along with the hedgerow I’ve planted on the left behind the ladder. The pond I posted earlier last year is made out of an old water tank someone was throwing out.
A two part reminder to be mindful of which type of honeysuckle you plant: Japanese honeysuckle is very popular, but also considered invasive in some areas and grows very aggressively. But also, not all honeysuckle is Japanese, you may have native varieties available that will work even better.
My local native honeysuckle unfortunately isn’t fragrant, but the hummingbirds love it.
Imagine my surprise when I learned the honeysuckle I grew up with was invasive BUT the native honeysuckle I. The mid Atlantic is a dope ass tropical looking vine with big red / orange flowers.
I thought the white stuff was native and the exotic looking ones invasive, exactly the opposite!
Your comment helped me remember that I had a dream hummingbirds were visiting my coral honeysuckle!
I just realized I had a similar misunderstanding about trumpet creeper and crossvine. Turns out both are native, but trumpet creeper just grows way too aggressively. This is a good thing for professional landscapers that can keep up with training and pruning it, but most people would probably do better with a well behaved crossvine.