Almost all of the details posted above are wrong. Perhaps this is due to trade name confusion between L. coerulea 'Kiev #8' BLUE VELVET a...Read Morend L. korolkowii 'Floribunda' BLUE VELVET, a 1999 Plant Select winner, which has pink flowers in late spring, red fruit, and blue-gray foliage, grows 12' tall and 8' wide, and is recommended for xeriscape. http://plantselect.org/plant-details/lonicera-korolkowii-flo...
L. caerulea 'Honey Bee' is a fruit-bearing shrub that was bred by Bob Bors at the U. of Saskatchewan as an early-blooming pollenizer for 'Borealis', 'Tundra', and the three "Indigo" cultivars, with superior fruiting qualities.
It holds its fruit much longer than the other Bors cultivars. The stems tend to come off with the fruits when machine harvested, but this is less problematic for the home gardener.
It is neither a rock garden plant nor an alpine nor an herbaceous perennial.
It grows 6-8' tall, and can be spaced as closely as 3' if you want a solid hedge.
It is happiest in Z2-4, and may survive as far south as Z7, though the latter's uncertain. Full sun is recommended in Z2-4, with some protection from afternoon sun further south.
Bloom color is white to straw yellow, though it's not bred as an ornamental. It blooms in early spring, and fruit is ripe before the earliest strawberries.
The foliage is green and not silver/gray, though it is a little velvety.
It is not suitable for xeriscaping, though natural rainfall is generally adequate in Saskatoon once it is well established (generally after 3 years).
All of the U of Saskatchewan releases are legally protected from unlicensed propagation by CPBR.
This cultivar belongs to the species L. caerulea, but it's the product of hybridization between different geographic varieties and is not var. kamtshatica.
The common name suggested by the U of Saskatchewan breeding program and widely accepted among the growers and in the market today is "haskap". "Honeyberry" was a trade name used half a century ago for a very different set of plants with a different genetic background and with very different qualities, bred principally for ornament (and with fruit that tasted horrible). A haskap is no more a honeyberry than a cabbage is a kohlrabi, though in commerce you'll find some confusion about this new product.
Almost all of the details posted above are wrong. Perhaps this is due to trade name confusion between L. coerulea 'Kiev #8' BLUE VELVET a...Read More