Lonicera x heckrottii 'Goldflame'

For a vine that earns a place on the fence, few honeysuckles match Lonicera × heckrottii 'Goldflame'. This is a hybrid grown for two gifts at once: bold color and a sweet, faintly citrus fragrance that hangs in the air on warm evenings. The trumpet flowers open in a blend of deep rose-pink and golden orange, like a watercolor sunset, and keep coming from late spring through early fall.

Goldflame honeysuckle belongs to the family Caprifoliaceae, and the genus Lonicera honors Adam Lonitzer, the sixteenth-century German herbalist. The hybrid name heckrottii marks a garden cross of uncertain origin, long linked in parentage to the native coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens, which lends the trumpet flowers and the hummingbird appeal. Unlike the invasive Japanese honeysuckle, 'Goldflame' is a climber with ambition but good manners, vigorous without running wild.

The scent is the thing people remember, sweetest at dusk when the evening moths visit and, by day, the hummingbirds and butterflies come to the nectar. Set 'Goldflame' to wind through a trellis, dress up a tired fence, or soften the corner of a garden shed, and the vine repays the spot with months of bloom and perfume. The blue-green, paired leaves clasp the stem toward the tips and hold on through mild winters for a little off-season presence.

Give 'Goldflame' full sun for the fullest flowering and any soil that drains, even clay that is not waterlogged. Once established the vine is fairly drought-tolerant, asking only for a tidy-up prune in late winter and a structure to twine around, since honeysuckles climb by twining rather than clinging. A little romance, a little wildness, and a great deal of fragrance: that is the bargain 'Goldflame' offers. Photos courtesy of Paul Williams and Julie Weisenhorn.