Lonicera x tellmanniana

Bold, burnished orange trumpets in generous early-summer clusters make Lonicera × tellmanniana one of the most striking climbing honeysuckles ever raised. The hybrid crosses the American coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, with the large-flowered Chinese Lonicera tragophylla, and takes the best of each: vivid color, strong growth, and clean foliage, without the invasive streak of the weedy honeysuckles.

The cross is believed to have arisen in the 1920s at the Royal Hungarian Horticultural School in Budapest, and quickly won admirers for the sheer size and color of the flowers. The great British nurseryman Hillier described the vine in his Manual of Trees and Shrubs as a superb hybrid, high praise from so measured a reference. The genus Lonicera honors Adam Lonitzer, the sixteenth-century German herbalist, and the honeysuckles belong to the family Caprifoliaceae.

The tubular flowers cluster in whorls at the branch tips in late spring and early summer, coppery orange and rich in nectar for hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies, though, unlike the woodbines, this hybrid carries little scent. One quirk is worth knowing: Tellmann's honeysuckle flowers best with the roots cool and shaded and the head of the vine reaching up into sun, the classic arrangement for a clematis. Deep green, paired leaves clothe the stems densely through the season.

Give the vine a pergola, an arbor, or a large trellis to climb, or let the stems scramble up through an open-branched shrub, since this is a true twiner that needs something to hold. The warm copper tones sing against cool foliage, dark evergreens, and blue or purple companions, which makes the hybrid a natural for a cottage border, a woodland edge, or a pollinator garden. Provide support, keep the roots cool, and Tellmann's honeysuckle earns the century-old reputation. Additional photos courtesy of Vision.