# Limber Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica)

> A low native honeysuckle that twines up a fence or sprawls as a shrub, with whorls of yellow to red flowers for hummingbirds and red berries for birds.

Also called mountain honeysuckle, wild honeysuckle, red honeysuckle, glaucous honeysuckle, Lonicera glaucescens. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/limber-honeysuckle/

![Limber honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica) red tubular flowers with yellow stamens on a cupped leaf pair](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/limber-honeysuckle-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Rob Routledge, CC BY 3.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALonicera_dioica_5473501.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 10 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 7
- Grows wild in: Rocky ground, the forest understory, the Appalachians, old fields and edges
- Native range: 31 states, north to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), south to [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) and west to [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY) ([Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [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), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY))
- Sun: Full, Part, Shade
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: May to June
- Fruit: Berries, July to September
- First crop: 3 to 5 years
- Mature spread: 6 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Wildlife value, Tolerates shade
- 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

Limber honeysuckle is a native honeysuckle that grows as a low vine or a loose shrub, climbing through its neighbors or arching out on its own. Its botanical name, dioica, rests on a misreading of dried specimens by early European botanists, since its flowers are not split into male and female. Of the three vining honeysuckles native to Minnesota, it is the most common. Set it on a low trellis or a stout stake at a woodland edge, where hummingbirds can find its flowers.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like our American fly honeysuckle, about a foot and a half a year. It is a low vine or sprawling shrub whose stems arch or twine 3 to 10 feet, and a plant spreads 3 to 6 feet.

Whorls of tubular flowers, half an inch to an inch long, open in May and June at the tips of last year's shoots. They run from yellow to red or purple, and the leaf pair beneath them joins into a cup. Bright red to orange-red berries a quarter to half an inch long ripen from July into September, and birds eat them. The leaves are whitish beneath and turn yellow in fall.

It grows wild from Quebec and Maine west across Canada to the Yukon, and south to Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Its home is open woods, thickets, rocky slopes and bluff ledges, and in the southern mountains only at high elevations. Maine lists it as endangered, and Illinois and Kentucky each list one of its varieties as endangered.

## How to grow Limber Honeysuckle

Limber honeysuckle grows in full sun, part shade or shade, and it flowers most in full sun on moist soil. It takes sandy, loamy or rocky soil, moist or dry, as long as it drains, and it rides out a wet spell. It climbs only low, so a fence, a short trellis or a stout stake suits it. Set the support 3 feet from a wall and set plants 3 feet apart. 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. Tie a few stems to a stout stake for a low bush, or lead them to a trellis. Clean the seed from the berries and sow it outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep, under a little straw. For a spring sowing, chill the seed damp in the refrigerator for two to three months first. In one germination test, nearly all of it sprouted.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short. It flowers on last year's wood, so prune only right after it blooms. Stems that touch the ground may root, which widens the plant into a patch.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Hummingbirds and bumble bees visit the flowers. Powdery mildew can appear, but no serious pest or disease troubles it. Songbirds eat the berries, but they are toxic to people.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Lonicera dioica](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lonicera-dioica/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Lonicera dioica](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LODI2)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Lonicera dioica, wild honeysuckle](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/wild-honeysuckle)
- [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Limber Honeysuckle](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/limber-honeysuckle)
- [Penn State Extension: Honeysuckle Species in Pennsylvania (Marquesen, updated March 10, 2025)](https://extension.psu.edu/honeysuckle-species-in-pennsylvania)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Lonicera dioica](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/lonicera/dioica/)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society): Lonicera dioica](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/lonicera/lonicera-dioica/)
- [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 dioica](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/LODI2)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Lonicera dioica, Mountain Honeysuckle](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148202/Lonicera_dioica)
- [Maine Natural Areas Program: Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Plant Taxa, December 2021](https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/rare_plants/2021_tracking_list.pdf)
- [Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board: Checklist of Endangered and Threatened Animals and Plants of Illinois, 2025](https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/espb/documents/et-list-review-and-revision/2025-illinois-list-revision/2025-e-t-checklist.pdf)
- [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: Kentucky Rare Plant List, September 30, 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf)
- [Tennessee Natural Heritage Program: Rare Plant List](https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/natural-areas/documents/na_tn-rare-plant-list.pdf)
- [Georgia Biodiversity Portal, rare plants table exported July 7, 2026](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/table/plants)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle, Munger 2002](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/lonjap)

## 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), [Hairy Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hairy-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: [Hop Hornbeam](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/hop-hornbeam/index.html.md), [Common Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/common-hackberry/index.html.md) and [Slippery Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/slippery-elm/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Limber Honeysuckle, add ?species=limber-honeysuckle with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=limber-honeysuckle&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Limber Honeysuckle](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=limber-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 Limber Honeysuckle as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=limber-honeysuckle (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Limber 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=limber-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 Limber 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=limber-honeysuckle:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Limber 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=limber-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 Limber 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=limber-honeysuckle&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Limber 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=limber-honeysuckle