Honeysuckle ‘Winter Beauty’
A gardening friend came round for a coffee the other day and as we sat at the kitchen table where I had placed a stem of this gorgeous honeysuckle, we suddenly realised that we should instead be outside enjoying the sights and scents of the garden in winter.
So we pulled on coats and wellies and stepped out; over an hour later we were still there, there was so much to enjoy. You do have to peer a bit in winter, but the rewards are many. At ground level there are already snowdrops, Crocus tommasinianus, the first hellebores and the marbled foliage of Arum italicum. Higher up are glossy-leaved evergreens, berries, hazel catkins, scented flowering shrubs and the ghostly clumps of miscanthus; and often there will be the background buzz of a hard working bumble bee. It’s all there, you just need to look and listen.
‘Winter Beauty’ is not a climber, it’s a hardy, deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub that can reach eight foot or be hard pruned to fit the allotted space. At any time from early to late winter it will bear sweet smelling ivory white flowers with yellow sepals, often on bare branches. Ours was particularly floriferous in the run up to Christmas, possibly because we had only one or two light frosts in the autumn.
So please don’t grudge this winter beauty a prime spot: choose somewhere sunny (although it will tolerate a bit of shade) that is in close proximity to the house or a well trodden path, somewhere you will see it every day. In terms of its position, the icing on the cake would be an evergreen backdrop!
NB You can purchase Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ AGM from Thomson & Morgan. In our ‘Bag a Bargain’ section you’ll find a 10 % discount count valid until 31 January 2025.
More NB Louise has published a beautifully produced book of her plant profiles – A Plant for Each Week of the Year. It costs £9.99 and is for sale in our online shop here.
Even more NB If you’re not already a subscriber and you’d like a bit more gardening chitchat from the3growbags, please type your email address here and we’ll send you a new post every Saturday morning.
