Friday, June 26, 2009

Pretty, but invasive.

Lonicera Japonica Halliana.
A few days ago the title on this post included the words "don't plant it."
But who am I to tell anyone what to do?
So I am changing my tune to: read as much information as possible about this plant before placing it in the ground (Dave's Garden's site is a great place with many first person accounts), and if you decide to plant it...I'd say, at least be sure that it is not near a tree you love (as the lit out there says it might kill it) or any structures you'd like to keep intact.
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9 comments:

J - Pacha Mama said...

are those honeysuckles? they look just like the ones I grew up eating/enjoyin in Maryland...

HelloPame said...

Yes, it is a Lonicera Japonica = Honeysuckle. I had forgottent to add the name of the plant but you reminded me to, thanks PachaMama!!!

Perhaps up north they are not invasive, but here in Florida they become little monsters and take over, even killing trees they climb on.

It is too bad because I love the flowers, they smell fantastic, look great in a moon garden as they show beautifully at night, and attract all sorts of cool pollinators...but it is not worth it if it will eat up the rest of our garden.

GreenJeans said...

Ooh, so pretty! (even if it is a psycho plant) We don't have any honeysuckle right around here so my 7 yr old got her first taste when we were in Kentucky. That one little sweet drop in each flower made her smile... just like I used to do 100 years ago. :-)

HelloPame said...

You know, I have never seen it fruit...

...I am going to put mine in a pot and see how it likes it...

...you and your little one can come here any time and visit our honeysuckle! ☺

HelloPame said...

Oh, yeah, almost forgot...gotz to finish my email to you! Almost there, but now I can hear the lightning and thundering out my window again...and you know what that means in Florida...unplug the computers!!!!

GreenJeans said...

No no no, silly!! Not fruit! Pick a flower and, from the bottom of the flower, break off a very little piece and carefully pull it out from the bottom. There will be a thread-like piece of the flower (techy term, eh?) that you are pulling out. When that gets to the end, there will be a single, tiny droplet of nectar (i guess that's what it is) and you can touch it to your tongue and get a little blast of sweetness.

So go play butterfly and getcha some nectar. :-)

Oh! No worries about the email, you saw how long it took me!!!

HelloPame said...

Really?

So basically, I'd be licking a flower's bottom?

Hummmm....don't know about that missy ☺

Actually, I am trying to quit so much refined sugar so perhaps one of those nights when I NEED something sweet and I freak out (because I simply stopped shopping for the stuff) you will find me licking and eating every darn flower out there :-)

Darn, still cooking that email, thanks so much for being so understanding your penpalness!

GreenJeans said...

Yep, I'm serious. I did it every summer when I was a kid and I turned out ok. I think.
:-P

Oh my, you're cutting out refined sugar? I guess you don't want one of these sugar cookies I baked for tonight's dessert....... (yes, really!)

HelloPame said...

Last night hubby and I were sitting in our little patio and he told me the same thing! He used to play bee on those things too.

You people are weird.



You are evil with your sugar cookies references!!!! Yup, trying to cut back...TRYING being the key word.