05/25/2026
Our native honeysuckle vine, Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), is in full bloom at the Nature Center 🌿❤️
Unlike the invasive honeysuckle vines and shrubs taking over so many forests and roadsides, this native vine is well-behaved, twining gracefully instead of smothering everything around it. Its clusters of long red-orange trumpet flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds, native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, while birds enjoy the berries later in the season.
Native coral honeysuckle also looks very different from the invasive types many people recognize:
🌱Native coral honeysuckle has smooth blue-green leaves and bright tubular flowers with little to no fragrance.
🌱Invasive Japanese honeysuckle vine has strongly fragrant white-to-yellow flowers and grows aggressively, blanketing trees and shrubs.
🌱Invasive bush honeysuckles form dense shrubs with hollow stems and produce heavy crops of berries that spread rapidly by birds.
Why are invasive honeysuckles - and other invasive plants - such a problem? Because they outcompete native plants that local wildlife evolved alongside. They can create dense monocultures, reduce biodiversity, alter soil chemistry, and either provide no viable food or low-quality food for insects, birds, and other animals. Some invasive shrubs even leaf out earlier and stay green longer than native plants, shading out spring wildflowers and disrupting ecosystems.
Planting natives like coral honeysuckle helps restore balance while still giving you stunning flowers and wildlife activity in your yard. 🌼🐦🦋
