A paradise for wildlife, this native climber’s ambrosial flowers and heady sweet scent grace woodlands and hedgerows in the summer months – but it has poisonous relatives, so pick wisely
By Sonya Patel Ellis
The sweet, heady fragrance of our native honeysuckle attracts a host of wildlife. The scent of this woodland climber is at its strongest in the evening, when it’s particularly attractive to pollinating insects.
This olfactory evolutionary device is, more often than not, your first clue that honeysuckle is nearby, before the whorls of nectar-filled, trumpetlike flowers upon twining vines of dark green leaves even come into view.
How to spot it
Stumble across honeysuckle in the countryside and it’s likely to be our native species, Lonicera periclymenum – commonly known as wild honeysuckle, common honeysuckle or woodbine. While its roots are best able to thrive in the shade of trees or larger shrubs, its twisting woody stems and climbing tendrils allow it to grow up into the light where the warmth of the sun activates the alluring fragrance of the tubular, creamy white blooms perfectly set against oval leaves.
Flushed with a deeper pink or red, and maturing to yellow-orange, the distinctive flowers also sport protruding stigmas and stamens, providing an ample supply of pollen and nectar for visiting insects, such as long-tongued bumblebees and elephant hawk-moths. Indeed, honeysuckle is something of a wildlife hotel, with dormice nesting in its stems – and feasting on its flowers – alongside blackbirds and pied flycatchers. Later in the year, bright red autumn berries attract song thrushes and squirrels, while new spring shoots can become clustered with blackfly, a ready meal for blue tits, lacewings and ladybirds. The leaves are also the sole food plant for the caterpillars of the white admiral butterfly, which is in decline.
Grow, pick, use
Wild honey
