Honeysuckle 'Dropmore Scarlet'

Sun

Full sun to partial shade; flowering is best with at least six hours of sun.

Water

Keep the root zone evenly moist but not waterlogged. Water deeply during dry spells, especially during the first two growing seasons.

Soil

Fertile, well-drained soil enriched with organic matter; tolerates a range of soil textures and pH levels.

Height

10-15 ft (3-4.6 m)

Spread

3-6 ft (0.9-1.8 m)

Flowers

Scarlet-orange tubular flowers with yellow-orange throats from early summer into early autumn, often in successive flushes.

Foliage

Opposite, oval, blue-green leaves with paler undersides; the uppermost leaf pair joins around the stem beneath the flower clusters.

Growth

Moderate to fast once established.

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Heat tolerant
• Wildlife
• Low allergen

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   2 ft (0.6 m)

2. After 1 year

   3 ft (0.98 m)

3. After 2 years

   4 ft (1.4 m)

4. After 3 years

   6 ft (1.7 m)

5. After 5 years

   6 ft (1.8 m)

   full size

About 3 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Mildly toxic: may upset a stomach

Growth rate

Fast

• Provide a sturdy trellis, wires or an arbor; stems twine but do not cling directly to walls.
• Tie young shoots loosely to the support and spread them out to cover it evenly.
• Water deeply when the soil begins to dry rather than giving frequent light sprinklings.
• Apply a 2-3 in (5-8 cm) organic mulch in spring, keeping it clear of the main stems.
• Add compost in spring; avoid heavy nitrogen feeding, which encourages leafy growth at the expense of flowers.

Pruning. In late winter or early spring, remove dead, damaged and congested stems, then shorten wayward shoots to a healthy pair of buds. Thin older stems at the base if the plant becomes tangled; flowers develop on the new season's growth.

Late winter

Prune before strong new growth begins and check that wires and trellis fixings are secure.

Spring

Plant when the soil is workable, water thoroughly, and mulch the root zone.

Late spring

Guide new shoots over the support and check soft shoot tips for aphids.

Summer

Water during dry spells and tie in long shoots before they become tangled.

Early autumn

Continue watering newly planted vines during dry weather; avoid late nitrogen feeding.

Late autumn

Remove fallen diseased leaves and check that exposed stems are securely supported before winter winds.

• Train over a sunny arbor or garden arch for overhead summer colour.
• Cover a trellis or wire-trained fence with a relatively narrow screen of foliage and flowers.
• Grow behind blue or violet flowering perennials for a strong warm-and-cool colour contrast.
• Use on a freestanding support in a wildlife garden, leaving room to reach the stems for pruning.

Garden styles it suits: Cottage garden, English country, Traditional, Wildlife garden, Romantic rose garden and Hot border.

Plant it with: Cranesbill geranium, Catmint, Meadow sage, Coneflower, Lady's mantle and Shrub rose.

Wildlife: The tubular flowers provide nectar for hummingbirds in North America and can be visited by long-tongued insects. Dense growth offers shelter for small birds; fruit production is usually sparse.

• Aphids can distort tender shoots: wash off small colonies with water and encourage ladybirds and other predators; use insecticidal soap if necessary.
• Powdery mildew may coat leaves during dry, stressful weather: water the root zone, improve airflow and remove badly affected growth.
• Sparse flowering often results from shade or excessive nitrogen: give the vine more sun and reduce high-nitrogen fertiliser.
• A tangled, bare-based plant usually needs better training and renewal: spread out young shoots and remove some old stems at the base in early spring.

Do not eat the berries, which may cause nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea. Toxicity information specific to this hybrid is limited; keep berries and other plant material away from children, cats and dogs. Safety for horses is not well established, so do not allow grazing or feed them prunings.

• Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

  Very similar, with red tubular flowers and joined upper leaves; it is a parent of this hybrid. 'Dropmore Scarlet' is often more blue-green in leaf, but cultivated forms can be difficult to distinguish without a reliable…

• Goldflame honeysuckle (Lonicera × heckrottii 'Gold Flame')

  Flowers are pink to purplish outside and yellow inside, with more open mouths and a noticeable fragrance, unlike the narrow, nearly scentless scarlet-orange flowers of 'Dropmore Scarlet'.

• Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)

  Has strongly fragrant white flowers that age yellow, separate upper leaves and black berries; it is an aggressive invasive climber in many regions.

The cultivar name refers to Dropmore, Manitoba, where breeder Frank Skinner raised this honeysuckle, and to its scarlet flowers.

Propagation. Root softwood cuttings in late spring or semi-ripe cuttings in summer, or layer a low shoot. Vegetative propagation preserves the cultivar; seedlings, if produced, will not reliably match it.

Accepted botanical name

Lonicera brownii

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.