USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 3a-7b Find Your Zone
Plant Type: Deciduous Flowering Shrub
Height at Maturity: 3-4'
Width at Maturity: 3-4'
Spacing: 2-3' for hedge, 7' or more for space between plants
Growth Habit / Form: Rounded Mound
Growth Rate: Medium
Flower Color: Yellow turning Red as they mature
Flower Size: 1/2", in clusters
Flowering Period: Late Spring to Early or Mid Summer
Flower Type: Tubular, in panicle clusters
Fragrant Flowers: No
Foliage Color: Dark Green developing Yellow-Orange shades turning to Red and/or Purple shades in fall
Fragrant Foliage: No
Berries: Yes
Berry Color: Red
Sun Needs: Full to Mostly Sun or Part Shade; 4 or more hours of direct sunlight per day for best color and flowers
Water Needs: Average; Lower when established
Soil Type: Clay (amend heavy clay to ensure good drainage), Loam, Sand, Silt
Soil Moisture / Drainage: Moist But Well Drained; drought tolerant when established
Soil pH: 5.0 - 8.0
Maintenance / Care: Low
Attracts: Butterflies, Beneficial Pollinators, Birds, Hummingbirds, Visual Attention,
Resistances: Cold Temperatures (-30F), Disease, Drought (moderate when established), Insect
Though its flowers resemble those of honeysuckle, Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle, Diervilla lonicera, is not a true honeysuckle. It is a small, mounding North American native shrub with attractive, glossy green foliage that becomes orange-red on plants that receive more sunlight. With the arrival of cooler temperatures in fall the lanceolate leaves turn dramatic red and/or purple shades. In late spring through early summer, abundant clusters of bright yellow, honeysuckle-like tubular flowers that turn red with age appear attracting butterflies, beneficial pollinators and hummingbirds. In order to taste the sweet nectar, the tubular flower must be suckled, hence the name honeysuckle. Though flowers on the plant are "perfect," meaning they have both female and male flowers, if two or more plants are planted near each other clusters of bright red berries the birds will enjoy produced following the flowers in fall. At 3 to 4 feet tall and equally as wide, Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle is an excellent choice for groupings, hedges or in flowering shrub borders.
Wildlife Benefits
Bush Honeysuckle is a host plant for the Laurel Sphinx moth and the Snowberry Clearwing.
Growing 3 to 4 feet tall and equally as wide, Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle is ideal for use as an accent in smaller garden spaces and containers or in groupings or as a colorful low hedge in larger spaces. A fine addition to butterfly and beneficial pollinator gardens, native plant gardens, yellow theme gardens and cottage gardens.
Suggested Spacing: 2 to 3 feet apart for solid borders; 7 feet apart for space between plants
Growing Preferences
Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle is very adaptable and easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average fertility and full sun or part shade. Foliage color and flowering will benefit from more sun. We suggest 4 hours or more of direct sunlight per day. Plants have moderate drought tolerance when established. We give the plant a trimming in spring. We've seen no serious insect or diseases problems.
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