Northern bush honeysuckle
Diervilla lonicera ·
A tough, low native shrub with bronze-tinted new leaves, small yellow flowers in early summer and red autumn colour. It is not a true honeysuckle, and is not invasive.
- Size
- 3 ft tall, 4 ft wide
- Zones
- 3 to 7
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Late June to late July
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Anchor
A bed built around northern bush honeysuckle
The planner designed this bed around northern bush honeysuckle when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 708 that suit those conditions, and says below why northern bush honeysuckle stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Northern bush honeysuckle × 1, yellow
- 2 Striped bloody cranesbill × 10, pink
- 3 Fan columbine × 8, blue
- 4 Garden phlox 'David' × 3, white
- 5 Northern sea oats 'River Mist' × 3, green
- 6 Coral bells 'Berry Smoothie' × 3, red leaves
- 7 Hyacinth 'Delft Blue' × 10, blue
Why this plant
- The only yellow. The one hot colour: every other flower here is cool or neutral.
- Part of the bed's structure. Shrubs and grasses keep their shape when the perennials die down. So does northern sea oats 'River Mist'.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3 ft it is one of the taller plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to northern sea oats 'River Mist' (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A shrub is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- In flower for six weeks. From late June to late July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With striped bloody cranesbill, garden phlox 'David' and northern sea oats 'River Mist' in late July: 4 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 6 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowering is at its height in late July, with 4 kinds out together. Neither end outweighs the other: the visual weight is split 56 to 44, left to right.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 5 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where northern bush honeysuckle goes in a border
At 3 ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium tall (2½ to 3 ft).
Its job: anchor. A shrub that gives the bed permanent structure. Planted singly, as soon as the front edge is laid; everything else is arranged around it.
It grows in dry shade, on banks and in poor soil where little else will, and suckers into a dense, weed-proof colony.
- Dry shade and slopes
- Native mass planting
- Erosion control
What to plant with northern bush honeysuckle
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Christmas fern: its dark green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (20 in) to stand in front of it.
- Pennsylvania sedge: its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (8 in) to stand in front of it.
- Wild geranium: flowers first, early May to late May, so the spot is never empty; low enough (20 in) to stand in front of it.
Questions about northern bush honeysuckle
Does northern bush honeysuckle need sun or shade?
Northern bush honeysuckle grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and little watering once settled.
What zones does northern bush honeysuckle grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 7. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 7 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does northern bush honeysuckle flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to late July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to early August |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to early August |
| Zone 5 | Late June to late July |
| Zone 6 | Late June to late July |
| Zone 7 | Mid June to mid July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should northern bush honeysuckle be planted?
3 ft (90 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 4 ft (120 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3 ft (90 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many northern bush honeysuckle plants do I need?
At 3 ft apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 1 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 4 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 4 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one, planted singly: it is the bed's structure, and everything else is arranged around it.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
Is there a native plant like northern bush honeysuckle?
Northern bush honeysuckle is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Summersweet 'Hummingbird': the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers mid July to mid August, white, not yellow.
- Sweetspire 'Little Henry': the same job in a bed; 6 in shorter, 6 in narrower.
- Golden St John's wort 'Sunburst': the same size, the same flowering time and the same colour; a drift, not an anchor, wants dry soil.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
Will northern bush honeysuckle spread?
It spreads sideways, by runners or roots; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Spreads by suckers into a wider clump. Remove the outer shoots to contain it.
What flowers after northern bush honeysuckle?
Northern bush honeysuckle is over by late July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Japanese anemone: from mid August to early October, 3 ft tall.
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Garden phlox: from mid July to early September, 3½ ft tall.
What does northern bush honeysuckle look like in winter?
Northern bush honeysuckle drops its leaves and stands as bare branches. That is when to see its shape, and to prune it if it needs pruning.
More Diervilla
- Bush honeysuckle 'Kodiak Orange' Diervilla 'G2X88544' (Kodiak Orange)
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Shrub
- Size
- 3 ft (90 cm) tall, 4 ft (120 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 ft (90 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium tall (2½ to 3 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late June to late July; dense clusters; yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, deciduous; green, bronze
- Shape
- Mounding, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 7
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.