Spotlight Plants: Coral Honeysuckle vs. Japanese Honeysuckle
Hello all!
Here is this week’s Spotlight Plants, a fighting match between two different types of vines. Both beautiful and able to thrive in the Florida whether. However, one is an invasive and should be looked at through google images only, not in your backyard!
Native Vine: Coral Honeysuckle
source: The Lazy Gardener
source: FAU
This native plant can be used as a ground cover or vine. It flowers most of the year and is a great attractor of hummingbirds and butterflies and songbirds in the summer. It likes full sun, but can take some partial shade. This is great to go along with shrubs, because it will not take them over unlike the invasive counterpart.
Invasive: Japanese Honeysuckle
source: Central Texas Plants
You cannot deny the beauty of this plant, after all it was brought from Japan in the 1800s as an ornamental. Nowadays though, it should only be enjoyed while in Japan 
This vine means bad news for your shrubs and trees. The vine twists itself around the stems and trunks and can cut off the circulation of water and smother the other plant life from sunlight. It has few natural enemies in Florida (and really around the U.S.) and therefore will grow to uncontrolled proportions. Interesting fact about it though: the nectar from the honeysuckle vine is suppose to be delish! Stick to the native version and keep your surrounding plant life alive and healthy.
source: Native plant society
By Wilma Ham, June 21, 2010 @ 2:23 am
Go Kristie go, let that invader have it and send it back to Google and Japan. You wrote this well and the pictures are good to show the difference.
Love Wilma
[Reply]
Kristie Reply:
June 27th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Thank you so much Wilma! I’m learning so much from doing these posts and I hope others will too. The pictures are pretty at the very least
Thanks for all your support, all the time,
Kristie
[Reply]