Over the past four or five years, we’ve had mixed success with our three honeysuckle plants. They have been moved around the garden quite a lot, due to some extensive renovation works, and last year, we dug them up out of big wooden planters, where they were supported on a frame, and re-potted them, because bay trees were being planted, for additional privacy. We didn’t really think the honeysuckles would survive the big move, across what we call Last Chance Saloon, but they seemed to rally, and so were moved back again, to the front garden. This is how they looked, last September, when they were relocated. Healthy looking leaves and pretty sturdy looking branches, but still not very fulsome.
But we knew that if the plants could rally, they would be beautiful. We did have one summer of lots of flowers, white and creamy, with the most heady aroma, so we decided not to give up and started to nurture the plants a lot more. We also started to get to know the honeysuckle plants, known for their fragrant, tubular flowers. Belonging to the genus Lonicera, they are native to many parts of the world, including Europe, so we guessed they would fare well, if treated well.
The tubular shaped flowers were very pretty, when they bloomed, and the sweet fragrance definitely attracted bees and butterflies for pollination. Honeysuckle plants are often grown for their vigorous growth habits, which was encouraging as ours did like the trellis. Aside from their ornamental value, honeysuckle flowers can also used in traditional herbal medicine, as it said they have health benefits. They have been used in teas, tinctures, and other preparations for their supposed anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. However, if we just get another summer of aromatic, creamy flowers, we’ll be very happy! And, judging by how thick the plants are, just eight months on, and seeing lots and lots of creamy buds emerging, we just end our time in our Istrian garden on a honeysuckle high…
Keeping our fingers crossed, that over the next few weeks, these tiny little buds of creaminess, open into fragrant flowers, filling the garden with the smell of summer and the buzz of bees and butterflies…
