Delavay Honeysuckle Plants

Lonicera similis var delavayi

Strongly scented cream flowers that mature to pale golden yellow. The leaves of this honeysuckle are evergreen if the winter is mild, and the decorative berries that follow the flowers add some late season interest if the birds don't grab them all.

Vigorous but relatively compact to 4m x 2.5m, Delavayi honeysuckle can be grown as a climber or an informal, mounded shrub.

Browse our variety of honeysuckle or our full range of climbing plants.

Features

• Semi-evergreen.
• Cream trumpet flowers, maturing to Yellow
• Blooms June to September
• Decorative black berries
• To 4m x 2.5m
• Full hardy
• Strong perfume
• Sun or partial shade
• More mildew resistant than most other varieties
• Needs support as a climber, or can be ground as a mounded shrub
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Delavayi Honeysuckle

Honeysuckles aren't fussy and will thrive in any moderately fertile, well-drained soil. Too much sun, especially in the South, can cause a bit of mildew on most varieties, but this one is more resistant than average, so it's recommended for sun-scorched sites (partial shade is fine too).

Garden Design Ideas

Plant near a path, steps or somewhere you sit outside, so you can enjoy its heady perfume. What is good about this honeysuckle is that it's evergreen in all but the coldest conditions, so that you don't have to look at a clump of seemingly dead twigs in the winter months. Grow alongside creamy and yellow roses or over low walls or into trees. It associates well with other honeysuckles and climbing roses or it can be planted with a clematis mixing together over a fence or tree stump. It's essentially a woodland and cottage garden plant.

History & Trivia

The first specimen of this honeysuckle to reach Britain was sent to The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew in 1907 by the French nurseryman Maurice de Vilmorin, who had received it from China in 1901.
It was discovered by Father Jean-Marie Delavay (1834-1895) in China's Yunnan province in 1888, the year after he came down with a spot of bubonic plague, having only recently recovered from malaria. Men were made of stern stuff in those days, and he continued his plant-collecting work even while recuperating in Hong Kong. By 1891, his condition had deteriorated, and he went home to France for medical treatment. Within two years, it became clear that he was dying, and despite now being paralysed in one arm, he decided to use the last of his strength to return to China in order to continue spreading the gospel, and gathering an estimated 1,550 more plant species in the final two years of his life (with plenty of Chinese help, of course).