- Image by Martin LaBar via Flickr
Honeysuckle is a sweet treat that many of us remember from our childhoods. Taking the blooms off the plant and sucking the honey-sweet nectar was fun and exciting. The scent of honeysuckle is heavenly and used to our delight in perfumes, soaps and air fresheners.
Nature is peculiar in all its variety. Did you know that there are some honeysuckle plants that don’t even smell? The blossoms look practically the same as the deliciously scented Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica. The Japanese honeysuckle is a vine with pairs of white flowers that fade to yellow.
A group of honeysuckles, called Fly Honeysuckles, are shrubs that are related to the Japanese Honeysuckle. The flowers are tubular with five lobes and they project from the leaf axils. The evenness and length of the flower lobes helps to separate the species of honeysuckle. Also, the habitat where the plant lives will help to distinguish it from its relatives.
The Newcomb Field Guide
Morrow’s Honeysuckle, Lonicera morrowi, is the fly honeysuckle in the photos shared here. A few examples were seen flowering at the spillway of Lake Holman along Little Buffalo Road a couple weeks ago.
Fly honeysuckle starting to bloom. Photo taken 18 April 2010. White blossoms are freshly open. Note the pairs of flower buds at each leaf node.
Another example of Morrow’s Honeysuckle (on Little Buffalo Road near the intersection with Route 34) was flowering profusely on 30 April 2010. The symmetry of this plant is remarkable with its pairs of opposite leaves and two flowers per leaf axil. The oval leaves themselves are quite symmetrical. Finding this fly honeysuckle along roadsides shows its invasive character.
Honeysuckle flowers practically coat this woody shrub.
Close-up view of the flowers of dry honeysuckle shows the older blossoms have turned yellow and new ones in the bud stage are creamy white.
Seeing this honeysuckle and getting close enough to realize that it was the scentless kind makes me want for summer. That’s when the Japanese honeysuckle will be blooming and filling the air with its wonderful fragrance.
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hello my honeysuckle used to have perfume but 3 years on it does not.Could you advise me please.
Thank you Clare
How interesting, Clare. What you are observing may have something to do with temperature. Has it been very hot where you’re located? If it’s too hot for the plant, it may not spend its resources on producing that sweet smell to attract pollinators until the temperatures are more moderate. Have you checked for the honeysuckle perfume at night?
I have the same problem as clare. My honeysuckle plant has no fragrance this year as it has in the past. It has been cool this spring and summer. Would love to hear your comment. We live on the Oregon Coast. Thanks darlene
Hey Darlene,
Who wants a honeysuckle that doesn’t smell sweet? Yah!
If the flowers don’t receive a couple of hours of sunlight, the oils may not warm up enough to be released into the air. Since honeysuckles naturally grow at the woodland edges, them seem to like their roots in the cool shady spots. Perhaps that is why, when left untended, their tendrils wrap around and around in clockwise fashion up and up to seek the sunlight. Your cool weather may have played a part in losing the scent, especially if the flowers aren’t experiencing the sunlight.
Inspect your honeysuckle and its neighboring plants. Is there some trimming that you could do in spring to make sure the flowers will reach the sunlight?
Let us know if this works!
Mine too is inscented last couple of years but this year has been glorious till this week, still no scent it’s in a sunny position till late afternoon. Any thoughts
Hi Elk,
Is that particular plant known to have had a scent in years past? Curious.
I’m glad that I’m not alone in that my honeysuckle has no scent; I don’t believe it ever did. I have a huge cluster of vines growing up and over an arbor that produces lots of flowers and red berries(?). The birds love it, but I long for the honeysuckle perfume. It has a full day of sunshine all through the summer. Isn’t there something to add to the soil to get the plant to produce the scent? (I seriously am tempted to buy perfume and spray it each day!!!)
Hi Cheryl,
Spraying perfume on your honeysuckle is likely the only way it’ll have a fragrance. Some species of honeysuckle, unfortunately including the American honeysuckles, just don’t have a scent. Check out this article at Dave’s Garden to see and read about a huge variety of honeysuckles that do. Thanks Todd!
My honeysuckle has no scent but the most magnificent flower. Hubby says get rid, I say not on your life,
Well Sandra, just don’t let him know where you keep the loppers!
I’m thinking this may be a kinda honeysuckle like. Fly honeysuckle or. Non scented Japanese honeysuckle
I’m saying ‘fly honeysuckle’ too! Thanks for your input.
I’m on my second honeysuckle, both of which I purchased from the most respected nursery in the area. Both varieties are known for their strong fragrance, but neither of mine have ever displayed an aroma, despite temperatures.
Hi Leslie!
Were the nursery folks ale to tell you the exact species of honeysuckle? They should be able to! Check back with them about to find out if you got one of the scentless types. Good luck!
Hello, I bought my honeysuckle from a reputable nursery about 3 years ago and was told that this is a very fragrant honeysuckle. It has never been fragrant, at all. Thinking i may have just got one that was not labeled correctly I bought two more in 2020 and put them in different locations. both of these do not have any fragrant. Now i have 3 honeysuckle and not one is fragrant. very frustrating.
Dang, Kathy. I would be upset too. Did you give them your feedback? Maybe not all the salespersons are that knowledgeable.
Love me some roses, but if they don’t have that great fragrance I wouldn’t be planting it. Better luck next time.