Wilson's Shrubby / Box Honeysuckle

Lonicera ligustrina var. yunnanensis (formerly Lonicera nitida), Evergreen Shrubby Honeysuckle Hedging

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Lonicera nitida is known as 'the poor man's box (Buxus)', an unfair description that sums up only a little of what Wilson's Shrub Honeysuckle does best: providing a really bushy, evergreen hedge of tiny, dark glossy green opposing leaves that can be clipped closely into a very dense hedge, and is perfect for topiary.

Although part of the honeysuckle genus, its off-white flowers in Spring are weeny and hard to see, but still fragrant enough to add some value.

It will look good as a formal clipped hedge up to two, maybe three metres tall. After that, it can tend to look straggly at the top, but that should not put you off: it makes up for it by staying bushy at the base!

Browse our selection of evergreen hedging plants, our full range of hedging, or climbing honeysuckle vines instead.

Growing Shrub Honeysuckle

It grows in any half decently drained soil, no matter how bad. It is widely planted in car parks and other urban areas with nasty, dry, compacted soil.

It grows reasonably quickly, send out quite long whippy shoots, so we would clip it twice a year while it's reaching the desired height to ensure dense growth throughout.

Lonicera nitida can work surrounded by perennial grasses or in a cottage garden scheme in little shaggy and unkempt if left to its own devices has a charm of its own when .

It is very easy to "layer", which means pinning low stems to the ground so that they root. It will typically layer itself if left to its own devices, which helps to keep the base of the hedge really thick and bushy even when neglected.

Features

• Size: up to 2 m
• Soil: any
• Use: hedging/topiary
• Single Row: 3 per metre
• Colour: dark green
• Feature: fast-growing, evergreen

History and Trivia

Brought over from China by Ernest Wilson (1876 - 1930), one of the greatest plant hunters, who worked for James Veitch. He travelled round the world bringing back Clematis armandii, Berberis and many other plants without which our gardens would be bereft. Perhaps his most amazing find was the Actinidia deliciosa vine in China, now known as the kiwi fruit.

At Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, Queen Victoria's garden contained Lonicera nitida topiary stags emerging from a bedding of pelargoniums and Festuca glauca.

Anyone with an interest in bonsai should give it a try, it is an ideal species for a beginner.