Lonicera japonica or Japanese honeysuckle
In the third installment of her invasive plant series, Cathy Isom fills you in about some not so native vines to be aware of when planning out your perfect garden. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Not So Native Vines to Be Aware Of
Pink Periwinkle
It may be love at first sight at the nursery but these vines are probably not the best choices for your next gardening project.
Japanese Honeysuckle. A beautiful woody-stemmed vine that flowers pink, orange or yellow in late spring and early summer. It’s recommended as a reliable ornamental bloomer. But the problem with it is it can smother young trees and quickly grows to form dense cover overtop trees, blocking light to everything below. If you already have it on your property, keep a close eye on this species and prune ruthlessly.
Periwinkle is another culprit, with its pretty purple flowers. It’s often chosen as a low maintenance ground cover option.
However, this invasive species is capable of quickly forming a dense ground cover that suppresses everything beneath it. Bottom line, pick a different ground cover like glory vine.
I’m Cathy Isom…