Hairy Honeysuckle

Size, growth and what to expect

Hairy honeysuckle grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It is a twining vine that reaches 3 to 16 feet, winding loosely through shrubs or up a support, and a plant fills 3 to 5 feet. Its stems root where they touch the ground, so a plant slowly widens into a patch.

Clusters of yellow flowers, half an inch to an inch long, open in June and July and darken to orange as they age. Orange-red berries a third to half an inch long ripen in September and October, after most migrating birds have left. Small mammals and the birds that stay through winter eat them.

It grows wild from Quebec and western New England west through the Great Lakes region to Minnesota and Manitoba. Its home is woodland edges, clearings, thickets and stream banks, often on sandy or rocky ground over limestone or marble. Massachusetts lists it as endangered, and Pennsylvania has proposed listing it as endangered.

How to grow Hairy Honeysuckle

Hairy honeysuckle grows in full sun or part shade, in sandy or rocky soil that stays moist but drains well. It takes limy ground, and once rooted it rides out some drought. Its twining stems need a fence, a trellis or a shrub to climb. Set plants 3 feet apart for a screen along a fence, and set the support 3 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Lead the first shoots to their support. Keep cleaned seed damp at room temperature for two months, then in the refrigerator for two months more. Sow it a quarter inch deep once the cold is done. Sown outdoors as soon as it is cleaned in fall, it comes up the next spring. A low stem pinned to the soil roots into a new plant.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. It flowers on last year's stems, so prune only right after it blooms. Let stems that touch the ground root if you want a wider patch.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Bumble bees work the flowers. No serious pest or disease troubles it. As with other honeysuckle vines, treat the berries as toxic to people.