General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Vine
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 10a
Plant Height: 12 feet to 16 feet
Plant Spread: 3 to 6 feet
Leaves: Semi-evergreen
Deciduous
Other: Usually deciduous but in the south can be partially evergreen or late losing it's foliage.
Fruit: Edible to birds
Other: Small 1/4 inch red berries.
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall
Flowers: Showy
Fragrant
Blooms on new wood
Flower Color: Orange
Red
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Late spring or early summer
Summer
Late summer or early fall
Other: Usually blooms mid to late spring, intermittently thereafter.
Underground structures: Taproot
Uses: Groundcover
Will Naturalize
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Birds
Butterflies
Hummingbirds
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Drought tolerant
Salt tolerant
Toxicity: Fruit is poisonous
Other: The berries are mildly toxic
Pollinators: Various insects
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger
Suitable for hanging baskets
Needs excellent drainage in pots

Image
Common names
  • Coral Honeysuckle

Photo Gallery
Photo by shaggya
Location: My Garden
Date: 2016-09-14
Location: NJ
Date: 2015-08-23
Location: My Yard
Date: 2016-07-25
#pollination
Location: Carson City, NV
Date: 2020-05-20
Location: Canton, OH
Date: 2023-05-19
Location: all photos from my garden
Date: 2020-04-23
Location: Southern Pines, NC (SW Broad)
Date: March 26, 2023
Coral honeysuckle #399; RAB p. 990, 174-2-5; AG page 220, 51-7-1;
Location: Canton, OH
Date: 2023-05-19
Location: NJ
Date: 2015-08-22
Location: Wilmington, Delaware USA

Coral Honeysuckle ~ April 2010
Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2017-07-16
Location: Southern Pines, NC (SW Broad)
Date: March 26, 2023
Coral honeysuckle #399; RAB p. 990, 174-2-5; AG page 220, 51-7-1;
Location: Roberta Georgia
Date: April
With humming bird
Location: San Antonio Botanical Garden, San Antonio, Texas
Date: 2022-04-04
Location: Southern Pines, NC (SE Broad)
Date: March 10,  2022
Coral honeysuckle #399; RAB p. 990, 174-2-5; AG page 220, 51-7-1;
Location: Wood County, TX
Date: 2020-04-21
Location: Plano, TX

Date: 2013-09-09
Location: Home
Date: 2016-07-15
Location: Charleston, SC
Date: 2020-03-22
Location: Molly Hollar Wildscape Arlington, Texas.
Date: Spring 2010
The lovely flowers attract hummers.

Date: c. 1815
illustration from 'Curtis's Botanical Magazine', 1815
Location: Fairfax, VA
Location: Fairfax, VA
Location: NJ
Date: 2015-08-22

Date: April 15, 2011
Location: Wilmington, Delaware USA

Date: April 23, 2011
Location: Carson City, NV
Date: 2020-05-20
Location: Fairfax, Virginia (Outdoors)
Location: KYLE
Date: 2019-02-14
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-05-02
Fruit forming in May will turn a bright red in the fall
Location: Kyle
Date: 2019-02-02
This vine started blooming weeks ago
Location: Carson City, NV
Date: 2019-05-08
Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2016-08-10
Berries contain small seeds.

Photo courtesy of Brushwood Nursery
  • Uploaded by Joy

Photo courtesy of Brushwood Nursery
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Sugar Mill Botanical Gardens, Port Orange, Florida
Date: 2013-03-01
Location: Kyle, Texas
Date: 2018-03-26
One of Texas' best native vines, it attracts hummingbirds and can
Location: Merritt Island, Florida
Date: 2014-03-01
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-04-15
unopen flower buds
Location: Plano, TX
Date: 2017-07-09
Location: Terrell park
Date: 2016-05-13
Photo by typwc
Location: Fairfax, Virginia (May 2022)
Date: 2022-05-08

Photo: David Arbour
Location: Lucketts, Loudoun County, Virginia
Date: 2013-05-23

Date: April 12, 2011
Location: Plano, TX
Location: Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina | June, 2022
Photo by canadanna

Date: 2012-04-04
Location: My front yard, N Watauga TX
Date: 2012-04-04
Blooms from early Spring to late fall and early winter
Location: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Merritt Island, Florida
Date: 2012-11-04
Location: Cheyenne, Wyoming
Date: 2019-12-21
Location: Sebastian, Florida
Date: 2013-05-16
Best vine to grow in Florida! Butterflies and hummingbirds all ov
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-05-02
vining leaves
Location: Northeastern, Texas
Date: 2012-08-28
Fully ripened fruit
Location: N. E. Medina Co., Texas
Date: March 2013
Coral Honeysuckle
Location: Sebastian, Florida
Date: 2014-03-08
A hummingbird magnet! Love this vine and I grow two on a cattle p

Date: 2012-05-24

Courtesy Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek
  • Uploaded by vic
Location: Jenkins Arboretum in Berwyn, Pennsylvania
Date: 2014-06-22
vine in bloom
Location: Merritt Island,  Florida
Date: 2014-03-01
Location: Savannah, Georgia (my garden)
Date: 2013-04-28
Location: Terrell park
Date: 2016-05-13
This plant is tagged in:
Image Image Image Image

Comments:
  • Posted by flaflwrgrl (North Fl. - Zone 8b) on Jul 12, 2014 6:57 PM concerning plant:
    Lonicera semperivrens is a Florida native plant as well as being native to much of the eastern United States.

    It is said that the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.

    It attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, as well as songbirds. Songbirds will nest in its dense foliage and will also feed on the ripe red berries, assisting in the distribution of seed. It is a larval host for the Spring Azure butterfly (Celastrina ladon) as well as the Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth (Hemaris diffinis). The American Robin, Goldfinch, Hermit Thrush, Quail, and Purple Finch are among the birds that enjoy its fruit.

    Bloom and seed production occur from spring to late summer. Propagation can be done with either seed or cuttings. To harvest seed, pick the fruit when it is bright red, remove flesh, and dry. For propagation by cuttings, either soft or semi-hardwood cuttings can be taken in summer or fall. Make the cutting at an angle and apply rooting hormone to the cut. Place in moist soil and keep moist. I have rooted cuttings taken in spring in a jar of water. I used heel cuttings. One can also air layer to propagate, and I suspect ground layering would work too, but I have no actual reference that states it can be propagated by ground layering.
  • Posted by Marilyn (Kentucky - Zone 6a) on Apr 28, 2013 10:53 PM concerning plant:
    Taken from wikipedia's page at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    "Lonicera sempervirens (trumpet honeysuckle, trumpet vine) is a species of honeysuckle native to the eastern United States.

    It is an evergreen twining climber growing to 20 ft or more through shrubs and young trees. The leaves are produced in opposite pairs, oval, up to 5 cm long and 4 cm broad; the leaves immediately below the flowers are perfoliate, joined at the base in a complete ring round the shoot. The flowers are produced in clusters of several groups of three together, tubular, 5 cm long, with five small lobes opening at the tip to expose the stamens and stigma; they are bright red to pinkish-red, and pollinated by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and insects.

    It is commonly grown as an ornamental plant in gardens, for its attractive flowers, and also as one of the best plants to attract hummingbirds."
  • Posted by critterologist (Frederick, MD - Zone 6b) on Jun 21, 2018 2:04 PM concerning plant:
    A resilient and floriferous plant! Semi-evergreen for me, producing flowers every now and again right through the holidays. When temperatures drop to the teens and single digits (F), the leaves finally drop. Seems less prone to spring aphids than the Lonicera americana across from it.

    My plant was taking over the deck stairs (again), so we pruned it back to nearly nothing, a tuft of vines and foliage topping a tangle of older stems. 2-3 months later, you'd never know it had been cut back, blooming like mad, and the stairs are in jeopardy again.

    I've rooted spring cuttings (with small leaves) by sticking them in moist potting mix, but with a low % of success. I've had better luck layering vines into pots of moist potting mix (like rooting a cutting, but without severing the vine from the mother plant). I think that can be done any time of year, but time to root will vary. When you see good roots from the buried part of the vine, make a cut between the roots and the mother plant to produce an independent new little plant.
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on May 30, 2020 8:12 AM concerning plant:
    This woody vine(Liana) is native from southeast Maine to areas of New York down through central Florida to east Texas, up eastern Oklahoma to southeast Kansas, to one spot in southern Nebraska, to one spot in southwest Iowa to various areas all over Illinois to some areas in lower Michigan back to New York. It ranges in size from 3 to 20 feet long, often being about 10 feet long. This twining vine grows slowly to medium rate (about 1 to 2 feet/year in the North and fast in the South (10 to 15 feet/year). It is semi-evergreen in the North and often evergreen in the South; no real fall color. Its big bloom is in late spring and/or early summer, then blooms at intervals until early fall. The red or orange berries are eaten by birds and small mammals, but are inedible to humans. The root system is sparse, long fibrous, deep lateral spreading and it is difficult to transplant and slow to re-establish. That is why it is grown and sold in containers. It is possible that it can be picked on by aphids, leaf spot, and leaf blight, but usually not badly. I consider this as being the best woody vine of all because it is a tame plant and does not go crazy and cause trouble as many woody vines can.
  • Posted by plantladylin (Sebastian, Florida - Zone 10a) on Sep 19, 2011 5:50 PM concerning plant:
    Coral Honeysuckle is a non-aggressive trailing and twining woody vine that can reach heights to 20 feet. The flowers are red or orange in color, and are followed by bright red berries that the birds love! The flowers attract both hummingbirds and butterflies!
  • Posted by Catmint20906 (PNW WA half hour south of Olympia - Zone 8a) on Aug 8, 2014 7:47 AM concerning plant:
    Lonicera sempervirens is a larval host plant for the Spring Azure Butterfly. It also has special value to Bumble Bees. Its fruit attracts a wide variety of birds, and hummingbirds enjoy its nectar.
Plant Events from our members
SCButtercup On April 15, 2017 Bloomed
First bloom ever, plant is covered in buds. Saw first hummingbird of spring April 21 on this flower
Nr22 On September 8, 2017 Plant Ended (Removed, Died, Discarded, etc)
Left two of these in Savannah. They had quadrupled in size and had become quite unruly, even with trellising.
MrsBinWY On August 21, 2022 Transplanted
On 8-21-2022, planted 1 by the juniper stump in the front rain garden.
MrsBinWY On June 12, 2021 Seeds germinated
Observed 1 on 6-12-21 (held container over, seedling had 2 true leaves on it when I checked the container)
MrsBinWY On December 21, 2019 Seeds sown
WS 16 seeds from wildflowers' 2019G in milk jug (put outside on 12-26-19)
WebTucker On March 10, 2023 Bloomed
» Post your own event for this plant

Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
female hummingbird? by DogsNDaylilies Sep 16, 2015 3:04 AM 5
Thank you by Onewish1 Aug 30, 2015 2:39 AM 3
Untitled by MaryDurtschi Aug 26, 2019 12:47 PM 0

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