Is there a native to anywhere in the USA a bush honeysuckle? The only info I found wasn't from our area but it said they are invasive.
Is there a native one?
We had a bush honeysuckle in our home in Mi and I have been missing it. The flowers were so fragrant and the hummingbirds loved them. So that leaves me with the question what was it and can I grow it here?

I would also like to grow winterberry. It too grew wild in our yard in MI. Can it grow here?

We are putting in a shrub garden and I would love to have these in there.

Edited by bakingbarb - Aug-03-2008 at 9:10am

The Seattle Aquarium has a few Twinberries in the Shorebird Exhibit. One is left to grow naturally, the other is pruned and trained like a vine to hide a drainpipe that extends downward from the roof. They are both lovely. I would like to get one, or maybe 2 (one for front yard, one for back yard).

of the vine type honesysuckles, there are two natives (Lonicera ciliosa with the big orange to yellow trumpet shaped flowers, and L. hispidula with the smaller usually hairy foliage and smaller pink to cream flowers, generally lightly fragrant), and two common invasive aliens that are seen enough in parks to be mistaken for the natives- Japanese Honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica and the Dutch Honeysuckle, L. periclymenum. L. japonica is an official noxious weed, but it beloved of many gardeners for its highly frgrant flowers, espeically in the evening. Dutch Honeysuckle is very similar, but not quite so invasive, and often not as fragrant, but both will hybridize with both natives, making it difficult to tell them apart sometimes. If you had a grandmother with a "fragrant honeysuckle" growing up, it was likely one of these two invasive species.

Lonicera involucrata, twinberry, is one of those plants most anyone who has done any hiking in the woods has likely seen, but not recognized. It tends to blend into the woodwork along with the other common things like indian plum, cascara, red-osier etc. There are some rather nice wild ones in Marimore Park along the boardwalk out to the lake viewing platform, but you have to look past all the hardhack etc to see them, lol. I've also seen it in moist woods and lots of other relatively moist habitats. Easy in the garden, and generally seems a good bet for wildlife.

Incidentally, the Eastern US native, L. sempervirens has somewhat similar flowers to the native L. ciliosa, but with a longer bloom time. It hasn't proven overly invasive here yet, but with plants the the birds lovethe berries so much, I generally get nervous and try and rememberto cut off the fruits before they have a chance to spread.

Lonicera japonica does a double whammy on the native honeysuckles; it BOTH spreads into their habitat, directly competing for space AND it is known to hybridize, both with L. ciliosa and with the smaller L. hispidula (which may in time lead to a three way cross including the two natives, that generally have mechanical things in place to keep them from crossing.) At the very least, by hybridization, L. japonica is in effect stealing the genetic potential of the natives, as the hybrids seem to be mostly mules. Aggressive ones that can cover whole banks at times, but thankfully sterile, so far as I can tell. I'm not so sure the hybrids with L. hispidula are so sterile, but it is very hard to tell with vines that snake all over what is one plant and what is another.

I had a seedling appear in my garden a few years ago, I couldn't figure our what it was but it looked interesting, so I left it. When it finally flowered after a couple of years I found out it was an Ink berry native honeysuckle! Where it came from I don't know, a bird must have brought it in. The flowers are very small and not showy, but the berries are interesting .

You're right, Twinberry is by far the more common name, and less confusing, I was writing too fast, had to get to work, and the botanical name is always good to add. Sorry about that. Star Jassmine is nice, but not very hardy in colder areas of the Northwest, just to warn people.

Edited by Fern - Aug-30-2008 at 7:32pm

The honeysuckle that I do have although it is the bad one, it is slow growing and half dead now. Some kind of die off is happening to one side of it. I do plan on ripping it out but sigh it can still be hard to do. Anyone know how well rooted these things are?

Oh me oh my, you are saying in Edmonds I ca find this Arboretum?! I do have the Daphne Odora (it is a rescue), and I have the sarcococca and some camellias but not fragrant.
My native honeysuckle is still thriving in its little pot. I started cutting back my non-native honeysuckle today, which leads me to wondering how much work it is going to be to kill it? The trunk is much larger then I expected.