Lonicera xylosteum - Fly Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lonicera xylosteum is a tough, utilitarian shrub known USAGE for emerging and mature gray-green foliage, compact Function rounded habit of some cultivars, and urban and salt -informal or formal hedge spray tolerance. -border, entranceway, low screen, or specimen shrub -parking lot or street island small shrub FEATURES -can be a facer shrub if kept pruned Form Texture -medium texture in foliage and when bare -thick density in foliage and when bare Assets -densely rounded habit -foliage emerging gray-green to silvery-green -urban tolerant, including exceptional salt spray and drought tolerance -spring flowers -low maintenance plant -medium shrub Liabilities -to 8' tall x 8' wide but frequently pruned much smaller -poor autumn color (but holds green foliage late) -radiating mound -some of the "compact" cultivars can eventually get -slow to medium rate quite spreading and tall if left unpruned Habitat Culture -Zone 4 -full sun to partial shade -Native to Europe -urban tolerant and very adaptable, especially to poor soils, soil pHs, restricted root zones, drought, salt SELECTIONS spray, and heavy pruning, but is not tolerant of wet Alternates sites or poorly drained sites -shrubs for urban stress situations (species of Berberis, -propagated primarily by rooted stem cuttings Forsythia, Lonicera, Viburnum, Weigela, etc.) -Honeysuckle Family, with virtually no disease or pest -shrubs with a tight growth habit that grow slowly problems (Berberis 'Crimson Pygmy', Buxus hybrids, Fothergilla -low availability, in containers or B&B form gardenii, Picea abies [shrub forms], Viburnum plicatum Foliage var. tomentosum 'Newport' [Nanum Newport'], etc.) -gray-green -winter salt-spray-tolerant companion plants -deciduous (Hemerocallis, Myrica pensylvanica, etc.) -opposite Cultivars - Variants - Related species -elliptical -Lonicera xylosteum 'Compacta' ('Emerald Mound') - -short blue-green mature foliage, mounding to 3' as a low petiole informal hedge with low maintenance -one of the -Lonicera x xylosteoides 'Clavey's Dwarf' - earliest hybrid of Fly and Tatarian (Lonicera tatarica) shrubs to Honeysuckles; up to 6' tall, used as a medium-sized leaf out informal hedge that needs little maintenance; this -buds and cultivar is often incorrectly treated as Lonicera young xylosteum 'Clavey's Dwarf' foliage emerging with silvery hairs and remaining pubescent -Lonicera japonica - Japanese Honeysuckle - -green tinged with purple vigorous vine or twisting groundcover, adorned with Flowers fragrant white and light yellow flowers all summer -white to cream long; good choice for a quick vine or an erosion control -in May and effective for 2 weeks groundcover -flowers borne upright with 4 per node -Lonicera maackii - Amur Honeysuckle - probably -not as showy as other Honeysuckles but still attractive the most invasive shrub in northern climates, being Fruits readily seeded near any perching site by birds; habit is -virtually no fruit set an arching vase (15' x 15') that flowers prolifically (and Twigs somewhat fragrantly) in May-June, and sets many red -tan to white-brown fruits in Sept., maturing and devoured by late Nov. by -winter buds extend out at a 45 degree angle birds (Do Not Use! see plantNote on this species) -rather stout, zigzag, and slightly rough Trunk -not applicable.