Lonicera fragrantissima seed

LATIN NAME: LONICERA FRAGRANTISSIMA

COMMON NAME: Winter Honeysuckle

The winter honeysuckle fragrances the dense, arching branches with the small, oval leaves and the creamy-white, intensely fragrant flowers that open through the winter and the early spring, the red berries following in the summer. The flowers carry the sweet, lemony scent that carries across the garden on the still days, and they draw the early bees. The shrub keeps the rounded, twiggy habit, and it stands the cold well. It likes the sun or the part shade, and the moist, well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

In the honeysuckle family, the winter-flowering forms have a recognised place in the fragrance research, and the species appears in the studies of the floral scent chemistry and the cold-season bloom. The chemists value the sweet, lemony compounds, while the horticulturists note the way the flowers open through the winter. The seed biology fills out the picture, and the collectors of the winter-flowering shrubs keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the winter garden, the winter honeysuckle scents the cold air. The creamy flowers open when little else blooms, filling the garden with the sweet, lemony fragrance on the still days and feeding the early bees, and the red berries feed the birds in the summer. It grows well in the moist, well-drained ground, in the sun or the shade. Generous, fragrant and winter-flowering.

To grow the Winter Honeysuckle from seed,

Press the seeds into the gritty surface of the open seed bed, then cover them lightly, keep the bed moist, and the seedlings emerge within a few weeks

Keep the young plants watered through the dry weeks, and give them the shelter from the hot noon. They flower in a season or two.

. Plant the young shrubs in the moist, well-drained ground, and the fragrant flowers will scent the winters over the years.

Seeds of Winter honeysuckle is a somewhat stiff-branched, deciduous shrub with a bushy, spreading habit. Typically grows 6-10′ tall and as wide. Extremely lemony fragrant, short-tubed, creamy white flowers appear in early spring before the leaves emerge. Flowers are followed by small, somewhat inconspicuous, red berries which mature in late spring to early summer. Oval, dark green foliage sometimes has bluish tinge. Budded branches may be cut for an early, fragrant, indoor arrangement. It is native to China and has been an introduced species to other parts of the world. Fortune introduced Lonicera fragrantissima to England in 1845, and a few years later it was introduced to the United States. Zones 4 to 8b.