Honeysuckle Shrubs

Honeysuckle shrubs make a beautiful display in the spring. The blooms originate as white flowers that turn yellow with age. Later in the season the plants are adorned with small red berries offering more decoration. Although technically a shrub, these plants can grow as tall as 20 feet. To me, that's a tree not a shrub.

Honeysuckles originated in east Asia and were brought here originally for arboretums to display the plants from countries far away. Eventually they were promoted as plants that were good at providing food for wildlife and protection from soil erosion. These promotions were in error, probably the same people recommended kudzu for soil erosion. It turns out there is very little nutrient value in the plant and the root system is very shallow offering little protection from soil erosion.

Now the plants are considered a nuisance and the primary discussion on websites concerning these plants is how to get rid of them. The Missouri Department of Conversation website even makes the statement:

Learn to identify this aggressive invader, and then kill it before it spreads more seeds elsewhere.

The invasive nature of the plant comes from it's ability to spread either from sprouts from the root system or from seeds. Birds eat the seeds in season then continue on to spread the seeds to other locations. Although honeysuckles prefer full sunlight they are highly tolerant of shade. They tend to leaf out before other plants stealing the sunshine from any other plant that may be trying to grow underneath. It's believed that some species of honeysuckles produce a toxin in the soil that works to prohibit the growth of other plants.

The recommended method of getting rid of this plant is to pull the plant up with as much of the root system as can be removed. If the plant is large enough it will have to be cut down, pulling a shrub that is 20 feet tall out of the ground is not reasonable. Cutting the plant down will encourage the root system to form sprouts, so instead of having one plant now you may have ten. This can be avoided by treating the stump after cutting with Glyphosate (i.e. Roundup).

Honeysuckles were once promoted as being good plants for a lawn providing decoration in the spring and fall. Given that they are easily pruned and mowing will take care of any sprouts that come up (or a quick spray with Roundup) it's understandable. But these plants are very invasive and a short period of neglect and they are out of control. These grow along the back fence line of our yard providing a lush green backdrop. They grow fast enough that anytime I want some mulch for my garden I can trim them and send them through the chipper providing a good mix of woody, leafy mulch.