Why is honeysuckle so bad?

• Displaces native and other desirable plants from our gardens and natural areas

• Reduces habitat for wildlife such as butterflies, which depend upon native plants

• Threatens the future of our woodlands, as mature trees die without replacement

• Offers poor nutritional value for birds relative to fruits of native shrubs

• Increases tick abundance and exposure to tick borne illness dues to higher deer concentration

• Increases survival of mosquito larvae due to changes in water chemistry and dense foliage

Doesn’t honeysuckle make a great privacy screen?

No, bush honeysuckle is a deciduous plant and in our climate zone it only has foliage for 6 months out of the year.

How do I identify honeysuckle?

Bush honeysuckle has leaves when our native shrubs and plants do not making them an easy target in the early spring and late fall. Bush honeysuckles are dense, upright, deciduous shrubs with shallow roots, growing from 3-15 feet in height, with opposite leaves and pairs of brightly colored red or orange berries near the base of the leaves in fall.

Where can I find more information about honeysuckle?

There are many sources of information regarding honeysuckle such as:

University of Missouri Ag extension https://ipm.missouri.edu/cropPest/2015/9/Weed-of-the-Month-Bush-honeysuckle-an-ornamental-gone-wrong/

Missouri Botanical Gardens

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/gardening-in-st.-louis/invasives/bush-honeysuckle.aspx