“A Winter Winner”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana
Last year Phillip of Dirt Therapy wrote post about the wonderful aroma of winter honeysuckle, and within a few weeks I ran across one at a nursery, picked it up, and promptly planted it. Today, as I was getting the newspaper, I smelled the most wonderful lemony aroma. It was the winter honeysuckle with just a few blooms showing, but the fragrance was unbelievable. It was sweet but not cloying or overpowering.
This is a deciduous shrub, but mine has not lost all its leaves this year. It is a fairly nondescript shrub most of the time, but its fragrance in winter makes this a winner.
These are unopened buds, but they should be perfuming the garden very soon.
This is what an opened flower looks like. My plant is only about 2-3 feet high, and it should grow to about 5-6 feet tall. I can’t wait for it to grow larger and be more established so that there will be more wonderful flowers.
Winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), besides its outstanding fragarance, grows in sun or partial shade, has an upward growth habit, blooms in winter and is hardy to zone to zone 5. What more could you ask for in a winter bloomer?
Thanks, Phillip for writing about this shrub. I think it is making a great addition to my garden.
Always Growing 
Chandramouli.S said,
January 5, 2009 at 12:02 am
That’s sweet, Jan. It looks like some exotic insect sitting on the plant. When I saw it first I thought it was a continuation of your previous post.
Brenda Kula said,
January 5, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Oh, I love honeysuckle! I’ve only had the vine. I sure want one. Now I shall be out looking!
Brenda
Jan said,
January 5, 2009 at 6:14 pm
This is a wonderful shrub that is very old-fashioned. It is a shame it is not used more since it blooms in winter and has such a sweet fragrance. It makes me wonder, Chandramouli, how many more plants like this there are that have become ignored for newer, flashier ones and should be in our gardens.
Brenda, this is not agressive like some of the honeysuckle vines are, and for those of us in a mild winter climate, it blooms would be so nice on those warm days we occasionally have in the winter. I hope you have luck finding one.
Phillip said,
January 6, 2009 at 8:22 am
Hi Jan, I’m glad to hear that you like the winter honeysuckle! I haven’t checked to see if mine is blooming yet but it has been raining all week. I haven’t smelled anything yet and that is how I usually first notice it. It is hard not too!
Chandramouli.S said,
January 6, 2009 at 2:41 pm
True said Jan. Most of the people go behind the common ones and forget about more exotic and distinguished species. Sad.
Jan said,
January 6, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Phillip, I am so grateful to you for writing about this shrub, I love mine and can’t wait for it to get bigger.
Chandramouli, I think we all need a little more diversity in our gardens, too.