Lonicera, Japanese Honeysuckle 'Hall's Prolific'

The European woodbine (Lonicera periclymenoides) is a well-behaved substitute for the thuggish Japanese honeysuckle. It is highly fragran...Read Moret and looks very similar. It is neither aggressive in the garden nor a threat to natural areas.

Japanese honeysuckle has been prohibited in three states and been declared a noxious weed in one other. It is a huge ecological problem throughout the eastern US.

Not only does Japanese honeysuckle strangle and disfigure the trees and shrubs in your garden, in wild areas its early leafing shades out all the native woodland understory wildflowers, ultimately killing them.

I've seen huge natural areas turn into ecological deserts covered by Japanese honeysuckle and Asiatic bittersweet. You can witness this by driving almost any interstate in the midatlantic states.

This species is rapidly spread by seed through the birds that eat the fruit.

2% glyphosate herbicide is an effective means of control.

It usually takes three or more years before a garden thug shows its true nature. And this aggressive vine is an equal-opportunity climber, strangling Norway maples and native trees with equal enthusiasm.

In my area this is not an invasive plant. In fact, I've tried and tried to propagate it from cuttings and have succeeded only once. It is...Read More fast growing and will survive on very little water although if watered regularly (deep, every couple of weeks) it will look a lot nicer and bloom more.

Mine is growing up a chain link fence and is twenty feet long and 7 feet high and has a density of about 4'. It is about 20 years old and is starting to look straggly. I'll probably remove it this fall/winter after the birds stop nesting in it.

The smell on a desert night is simply intoxicating. It blooms for several weeks. The bees love it.

I heartily recommend it in a desert landscape where it wouldn't become invasive. Great if you need a blind between neighbors. It is evergreen as stated, but it does become a bit tired looking by the time winter is over with. More frequent water helps with that, though.

I became fascinated in Japanese Honeysuckle after seeing it strangle a Norwegian maple in a nearby national Forest in my area. I couldn'...Read Moret believe that a vine with a tropical appearance and aggressive growth would survive where I live...needless to say I took a few cuttings.

After reading more about the species I picked up this cultivar, and let me tell you - kudzu has nothing on this bad boy. It doesn't touch the native plants where I live, and strangles the invasive Norwegian maples with extreme prejudice. The best part is, you get 3-5 times as many blooms as with 'Halliana', and they last longer. This cultivar is evergreen where I live, which let's it out compete other invasive perennials, which are really the problem in my area.

Giant Hogweed, Norwegian maples, purple loosestrife...almost any other invasive plant over a foot high, and under 6" around gets destroyed. I leave the garlic mustard to the Hedera hibernica...

While the thought of an "invasive" maple sounds silly, how hard do you think it is to grow any other plant, when steering-wheel sized leaves are blocking 100% of the light?

This is the best plant that I own - because of it, I'll be able to have enough sun for a vegetable garden this summer.

In my opinion Japanese Honeysuckle is second only to Kudzu in its rapid invasive nature. It literally covers everything. When you see i...Read Moret -- pull it out or treat it with a herbacide.