It is a joy to write about Scarlet Honeysuckle today because as I write, the intensely scarlet flowers are brightening up the green world along my driveway. Because it is a climber, the deep crimson color meets the eye at different elevations (although it does not seem to flower on the ground). Here in the piedmont it is deciduous, though evergreen in the Deep South. This plant is adapted from Maine to Florida and over to Texas, but does not appear in the mountain counties of North Carolina or Virginia. It was adopted as Wildflower of the Year in 2014 by the Virginia Native Plant Society (vnps). Coral Honeysuckle is famous for attracting hummers, and in fact (according to the vnps.org) the combination of its bright red tubular flowers with abundant nectar and little floral odor typifies the usual pattern for hummingbird-pollinated species. Unlike its horribly invasive Asian cousin, Lonicera japonica, Coral Honeysuckle is a well behaved garden plant. It climbs by twining, and it will reward the gardener who plants it (in organically rich, moist but well drained soil, beneath a trellis or fence in full sun or partial sun), with a heart-lifting vision of deep scarlet flowers, usually with golden interiors, as well as of the visiting hummers.
