European Fly Honeysuckle or Fly Honeysuckle

(Caprifoliaceae - Honeysuckle Family)

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• Form
  • small- to medium-sized foliage shrub
  • the rare species form matures at 8' tall by 8' wide, but more compact cultivars are found in the nursery trade
  • radiating mound growth habit
  • slow growth rate

• Culture
  • full sun to partial shade
  • prefers moist, well-drained soils in full sun, but is urban tolerant and very adaptable, especially to poor soils, soil pHs, restricted root zones, drought, salt spray, and heavy pruning, but is not tolerant of wet sites or poorly drained sites
  • propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings
  • Honeysuckle Family, with virtually no disease or pest problems
  • low availability, in containers or ball and burlap form

• Foliage
  • gray-green to blue-green, deciduous, opposite, elliptical, and short-petioled
  • one of the earliest shrubs to leaf out, with buds and young foliage emerging with silvery hairs and remaining pubescent as the leaves mature
  • fall color is green tinged with purple, late to abscise, and not ornamentally attractive

• Flowers
  • white to cream, in early May and in bloom for about two weeks
  • flowers are borne upright with four per node, not as showy as other Honeysuckles but still noticeable when in bloom on unsheared plants

• Fruits
  • virtually no fruit set on most cultivars or hybrids
  • fruits, when present, are red at maturity

• Twigs
  • tan to white-brown
  • rather stout, zig-zag, and slightly rough

• Trunk
  • not applicable

• ID Summary
  • grayish-silver pubescent foliage emerges in early spring on zig-zag horizontal stems
  • creamy white flowers occur as four per node in early Spring
  • mature grey-green to blue-green foliage is dense on an extremely urban tolerant, rounded shrub

• Function
  • formal or informal hedge if in rows; otherwise a border, entranceway, low non-thorny barrier, or parking lot/street island shrub

• Texture
  • medium texture in foliage and when bare
  • thick density in foliage and when bare

• Assets
  • urban tolerant, including exceptional Winter salt spray and Summer drought tolerance
  • foliage emerges a pubescent silvery-green, changing to gray-green or blue-green
  • low maintenance shrub (especially the small cultivar 'Emerald Mound')
  • densely rounded semi-formal habit for the compact cultivars

• Liabilities
  • poor Autumn color (but holds its green foliage late) and relatively poor floral display in early Spring; in general, a shrub of low ornamental appeal
  • the "compact" cultivar 'Clavey's Dwarf' can eventually get rather spreading and tall if left unpruned

• Habitat
  • zones 4 to 6
  • native to Europe

• Alternates
  • shrubs for urban stress situations (species of Berberis, Forsythia, Lonicera, Viburnum, Weigela, etc.)
  • shrubs with a tight growth habit that grow slowly (Berberis 'Crimson Pygmy', Buxus hybrids, Fothergilla gardenii, Picea abies [shrub forms], Viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Nanum Newport', etc.)
  • Winter salt-spray-tolerant companion plants (Hemerocallis, Myrica pensylvanica, Pinus nigra, etc.)

• Variants
  • Lonicera xylosteum 'Emerald Mound' (also known as 'Nana') - blue-green mature foliage, mounding to 3' tall and 3' wide as a low shrub or informal hedge with very low maintenance requirements
  • Lonicera x xylosteoides 'Clavey's Dwarf' - a hybrid of European Fly and Tatarian (Lonicera tatarica) Honeysuckles, to 6' tall and 6' wide, used as a medium-sized informal hedge that needs little maintenance

• Translation
  • Lonicera is named after Adam Lonitzer, a 16th century German naturalist.
  • xylosteum translates as "wood bone", of uncertain meaning.

• Purpose
  • European Fly Honeysuckle is an urban-tolerant, small- to medium-sized deciduous shrub often utilized in rows or group plantings in Winter salt-spray prone, Summer urban stress sites, that should be utilized more often as a deciduous informal hedge for low-maintenance areas.

• Summary
  • Lonicera xylosteum is a shrub known for its dense gray-green to blue-green foliage, rounded growth habit, and urban stress and salt spray tolerance.