PlantFiles: Winter Honeysuckle
Lonicera fragrantissima

Blooms in February. Very hardy and vigorous grower. Fragrant blossoms.

This plant is blooming here now, and an overwintgering hummingbird is greatly appreciating it!

10 yr old-great plant. flowers late winter here. under native oak & elms- practically full shade for 8 mths a yr.. gets sun in winter after trees drop leaves. never done a thing too it, but flowers fine. probably should trim/cut back based on others info for more flowers.

Winter Honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissima is naturalized in Texas and other States.

When winter gray has seemingly devoured all life and the gloom threatens to dry up your very soul, this cheery fellow fills the air with a deliciously sweet, fruity fragrance. Like a lifeline thrown from the distant spring it is enough to remind one that maybe all is not forsaken. But don't be so grateful that you shy from the sheers. Left alone this shrub grows into an ungainly mess. Prune to just a few inches from the ground, after flowering of course. Don't wory, in almost no time, new growth will completely hide your butchery. Around Louisville, Winter Honeysuckle is commonly found as hedging around older homes. It seems to have been somewhat forgotten these days, but you won't forget its scent if you encounter it. If there is'nt one already wafting perfume from a neighbors garden then you certainly need to plant one in yours.

I love this plant, but here it is highly invasive, to the point of wiping out understory plants in the woods, as bad as privit, I keep it in my garden, but if we get government grants to erradicate it, i will remove mine, I have raised it in several locations and this are is the only one I have noticed any problems, It is a middle of the winter cut flower and hard to beat.

Worth growing for the sweetly fragrant flowers which appear before the foliage in January. Small inconspicuous flowers often continue untill early March. The bush can be leggy and is best used in an inconspicuous location. I got my winter honeysuckle as a root cutting from a plant found blooming on an old abandoned home site. It grows for me in clay soil, amended with compost. I give it a little fertilizer and don't let it dry out in the heat of summer. It rewards me in winter with sweet smelling flowers that remind me spring is just around the corner.

Beautiful fragrance redeems the leggy and sprawling form. It has grown for many years at the end of a cane hedge, despite much interference. I am going to move it this year. Cross your fingers.

My grandmother planted these in the 50's and they are still a "breath of spring" in late Feb. Also called "pouting bush" or "pouting flower" because the flowers face opposite directions.

Winter honeysuckle is a tough, long-lived shrub that blooms in late winter, often bearing ice-covered blooms. Extremely fragrant, often perfuming entire neighborhoods, the flowers are rather small and inconspicuous. The shrub is best used along woodland edges and out of the way corners as it is not attractive enough to be used as a singular speciman planting. The fragrance of the flowers more than compensate for this however, as does its extreme toughness and ability to survive. Evergreen in the South, it is deciduous further north. Often found in old cemeteries and around old home sites. Although it can withstand drought and can be used in xeriscapes, it benefits from feeding and water. Will not tolerate bad drainage and wet feet.
Propagation is by cuttings and divisions.
Height: 8'-10'
Spread: to 8'
Blooms on last year's growth. Prune just after blooming.
In Texas, begins blooming in December and finishes in March-April. I have often brought in branches covered in ice and in full bloom.
Native to eastern China.