# Hairy Honeysuckle (Lonicera hirsuta)

> A native twining vine for cold northern gardens, with whorls of yellow flowers in early summer and orange-red berries in fall.

Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hairy-honeysuckle/

![Hairy honeysuckle (Lonicera hirsuta) whorl of yellow flowers resting on a joined pair of leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/hairy-honeysuckle-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Rob Routledge, CC BY 3.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALonicera_hirsuta_5497320.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 16 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 6
- Grows wild in: Rocky ground, stream banks, old fields and edges
- Native range: 7 states, north and west to [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN) and south to [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA) ([Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: June to July
- Fruit: Berries, September to October
- First crop: 3 to 5 years
- Mature spread: 5 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Hedge or screen, Drought tolerant
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Hairy honeysuckle is a twining vine of northern woods and thickets, native from New England to Minnesota. It is the hairiest of the honeysuckle vines, sticky to the touch, and it flourishes where winters are cold. It is a native honeysuckle, unlike the Japanese and bush honeysuckles that have gone wild across the East. Grow it on a fence as a screen, or let it climb through shrubs at a woodland edge, where its late berries feed the birds that stay for winter.

## 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.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Lonicera hirsuta](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lonicera-hirsuta/)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Lonicera hirsuta, hairy honeysuckle](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/hairy-honeysuckle)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Lonicera hirsuta](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/lonicera/hirsuta/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Lonicera hirsuta](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LOHI)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Lonicera hirsuta](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/lonicera/lonicera-hirsuta/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Lonicera chapter (Dubois and Blazich)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Lonicera.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Lonicera hirsuta](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/LOHI)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Lonicera hirsuta, Hairy Honeysuckle](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.158573/Lonicera_hirsuta)
- [Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife: List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species](https://www.mass.gov/doc/printable-list-of-endangered-threatened-and-special-concern-species/download)
- [Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program: Species and Natural Features List, updated June 2026](https://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/Species.aspx)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle, Munger 2002](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/lonjap)
- [Penn State Extension: Honeysuckle Species in Pennsylvania (Marquesen, updated March 10, 2025)](https://extension.psu.edu/honeysuckle-species-in-pennsylvania)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other honeysuckles (Lonicera) we grow: [American Fly Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-fly-honeysuckle/index.html.md), [Grape Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/grape-honeysuckle/index.html.md), [Limber Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/limber-honeysuckle/index.html.md), [Mountain Fly Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mountain-fly-honeysuckle/index.html.md), [Trumpet Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/trumpet-honeysuckle/index.html.md), [Yellow Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-honeysuckle/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md), [Rock Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/rock-elm/index.html.md) and [American Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-elm/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Hairy Honeysuckle, add ?species=hairy-honeysuckle with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 2, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Hairy Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Hairy Honeysuckle as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Hairy Honeysuckle is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Hairy Honeysuckle needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=hairy-honeysuckle:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Hairy Honeysuckle where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Hairy Honeysuckle goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=hairy-honeysuckle&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Hairy Honeysuckle flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=hairy-honeysuckle