Lonicera Tatarica Honeysuckle

Hi everyone. I was in the shops today and I picked up a plant, that is in the title. I was just looking on the net for some information and there is lots of references to the plant being invasive. troublesome and spreading fast by birds. Nothing like is this is mentioned in the packing with the plant. I was planning to plant it close to a brick wall, to trail over a wooden fence that is in the corner with the brick wall. However some of the things said about the plant has worried me. The packaging says it can grow 8 feet tall while on the net different sources say between 8- 20 feet. Can these kept in control to around 6 feet. I think my neighbour has a honeysuckle and it seems to be in control. I have learned that there are many varieties and am not sure what he has. The plant has not yet been planted. If it really is not advised to plant, I can discard it ( though I prefer not to).

Thank you

 

Hi Dinp you should be ok .. keep it under control with the pruners .. it wont do much in its first year any way !! ive just planted a couple of Lonicera Japonica 'Horwood Gem' and they are also supposed to be rapid growers .. enjoy your
Tatarica .. give it a liquid feed every couple of weeks through the growing season.. Micky

 

Micky.Thank you for the response. Its very much appreciated. I think sometimes things are blown out of proportion on the net. While researching this plant I came across Russian Vine. Some really horrific stories about that plant causing all sorts of problems.

 

Lonicera tatarica, whilst being a honeysuckle, is a shruby one not a climber. It will grow to about 8 feet high and across, but will not climb, and so will be no use to trail over your wooden fence. I have grown this for some time now and it's not troublesome, nor has it been spread by birds.

 

All the references to it being problematic that I found were US based...................

 

Got it in our garden and it is easily pruned after flowering, indeed it is BETTER if pruned, it encourages more flowers the following season. Never had any trouble with it. To get it to spread by seed it needs to have berries. Cannot say we have ever had any on it.

 

Dinp, Russian Vine is the monster you have read about, otherwise known as 'Mile A Minute'. Prune it one day and it'll be back with a vengeance the next.