Featured by Martha Stewart in 1999 as one of her “Plants of the Month”, Mandarin honeysuckle is a UBC Botanical Garden Plant Introduction. While at UBC, Dr. Wilf Nicholls crossed Lonicera tragophylla and Lonicera × brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet', and 'Mandarin' was the result. Dr. Nicholls is now the Director of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden (and a kinder man you cannot meet).
If you are interested in horticultural or gardening information about 'Mandarin', a factsheet for nurseries was made by UBC Botanical Garden. It's available online: Lonicera 'Mandarin'.
I hinted yesterday that today's plant would be in the same family as Linnaea borealis - well, things have changed from how I learned these plants! While Lonicera remain in the Caprifoliaceae, researchers have determined through studies in the late 1990s and early 2000s that Linnaea is too distantly related to the main members of the Caprifoliaceae, so it ought not be in the same family as the honeysuckles. Instead, twinflower is part of a family that is named after it, the Linnaeaceae.
how about including a picture of the leaves of the plants too
The capturing of this image is wonderful. The quality and the the color is just awesome. Great job kep up the good work
These Mandarins live on a fence on the East side of the house and have for five years here in Decatur, IL. I have found that you can start them from cuttings to produce a fence load of Mandarinchildren.
super
soo vivid and live..... wonderful work!!!
Like others, I stumbled upon this site thanks to Yahoo. What a stunning photo! And plant! I want to paint it, and have read the Creative Commons page. Can I get Daniel Mosquin's permission via this comment page? (Even assuming I could find this plant at a local nursery, my cheapo camera and point-and-shoot skill level could never approach capturing this beauty!
FLOWER IS SO BEAUTIFUL.ITS COLOR IS SO SUNNY AND HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no vale mucho su pagina yo las hago mejores
This plant is really great!
This picture is so stunning. Breath-taking! I love colors and this plant is a true representation of tropical colors. Kinda of like the Rainbow.
I am assuming that this is a climbing vine. Right?
it no. 1 in color.
is the northwest usa, a good growing climate for the mandarin vine?
What a lovely Honeysuckle.....
Your photos are fabulous. Thankyou and thank you Yahoo!
what a great idea for a weblog. thank you so much, i'll check in frequently!
I found your site through refdesk.com. What a wonderful place to get a daily dose of beauty and knowledge. Thank you; you are now on my daily "must look" page.
Has anyone considered whether or not this "easy-to-grow" plant might be an invasive species and a threat to our native flora?
beautiful pic, i have the yellow , but not the red, Ruth Henry
I ran across one of these a few years ago and had to have it in my yard even though I was renting the house I was living in at the time. It grew into one of the most beautiful areas in the yard and the color was unbelievable, everyone who saw it loved it!! After my kids left home I moved into an apartment and had to leave my beautiful honeysuckle. A month later I drove by and it was gone, the landlord had pulled it up because he didn't like the color, can you believe it, some people have no taste!!
Wow - a lot of comments. Thank you everyone.
Cynthia: I acknowledge that it'd be better on some photos to have more detail about the plant itself, like the foliage. We're going to cure that soon once we have our image gallery software up and running here - it'll allow more photographs and a more comprehensive look at the plant.
Christine: Thank you for honouring the Creative Commons license. I've sent you a private email.
Roberto: if my web-based translator is accurate, you said that the photos are nothing special, and that you take better ones. That's a fair enough criticism - I know for a fact there are tens of thousands better photographers than me. If you have a (non-commercial) site, I'd be happy to link to it from time to time.
Kathy: yes, a climbing deciduous vine - more info on the link given in the original commentary to the Lonicera 'Mandarin' factsheet.
Amanda: considering it has been bred in the Pacific Northwest, I think that's a pretty safe assumption. If you check out the link I suggested to Kathy, you'll note that the plant also grows in much of Canada - you'd have to live at the top of Mt. Rainier perhaps for it not to grow in the PNW.
Floater: Great question! You're bang-on on for being skeptical about new plant introductions for gardeners or landscape use. Far too often, introduced plants that seem like a good idea at the time (e.g., the kudzu vine) turn into a nightmare when placed in an area that has no natural biological controls. While invasive plant introductions were often for agricultural reasons (or no reason at all - they just hitched a ride), sometimes they were for ornamental reasons. Sad to say, botanical gardens are not without fault when it comes to introducing ornamental plants that later become ecological disasters.
However, in the case of Lonicera 'Mandarin', you've a plant that is about as “well-behaved” as can be. If you took a look at that factsheet page (and followed the link to the patent), you'd have noticed an 8 year gap between the time of first-ever flowers and the granting of the patent (and subsequent release into the market). In that gap of eight years, the plant was tested and trialed at a number of sites across North America to evaluate its market potential and growing behaviour. Invasiveness was not found to be a potential problem.
That's not surprising - again from the factsheet, Lonicera 'Mandarin' does not produce fruit, which is the number one vector for honeysuckles that are invasive (birds eating them and spreading the seed - see Lonicera × bella for an example). The only other way for it to become invasive then is through vegetatively propagating itself, which would be a very local behaviour. As it stands, though, it does not seem to spread vegetatively after sixteen years of observation (if someone has noted it doing so, we'd be interested to hear about it!).
For more on invasive species, I highly recommend the Invasive Species Weblog.
Cathy: Agreed - some people have a penchant for getting rid of superb plants.
Oh, one final comment on invasiveness - at UBC Botanical Garden, we're going to (sometime this year) publish factsheets about plants that exhibit “bad behaviour” in the garden based on horticultural observations, and what we do to prevent the problem from getting out of hand (e.g., deadheading, aggressive pruning, etc.).
First of all, I'd like to say that it is great to see people questioning the invasiveness of a plant, whether it is a problem or not. I like to see people thinking beyond their own gardens.
Second, it is excellent to know that developers of cultivars consider potential invasiveness when testing new plants. I am very conservative about this issue, so I would never say 16 years (or even 25 or 50) is long enough to guarantee a plant won't invade. Lots of species have hung around for a century or more before getting noticed as invasive.
But hey, if you buy and plant only native species maybe you need to start worrying about contaminating the local flora with "non-native" genes. Perhaps Australia has it right when they suggest people only plant things that require a lot of special care. That way you'll have little worry that those non-natives are going to be able to survive in the wilds around you.
We are not all going to suddenly stop gardening, so responsible horticulturalists and gardeners are our best protection against "escapees."
And finally, thanks for the link :-).
Thanks for the extended reply. We are surrounded by bush honeysuckle (2 species, I'm told), and japanese euonymus other non-native things, too). I'm new to your sight and did not see the fact sheet. I might give this vine a try sometime, after your comments.
The colors of this flowers are very eye-opening. It is amazing how color can effect the mood of a person, and this photo proves it to be true.
respected sir,
i see your website.
all message is very useful.
all picture is very beautiful.
regards,
r.purushothaman
Wowee! Are they related to honeysuckles? They look uncannily similar. (I should know, I have a colony in a remote corner of my backyard!) If it is related, does it have the same edible nectar that honeysuckles are famous for?
Mustela - yes, it's a honeysuckle. I'm not sure about the edible nectar, although it is a decent hummingbird attractor.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Where can I find information about the pests that attack this plant.
This is the second year we have had it and it is not doing well.
Something is �what looks like laying black very tiny eggs on it�.
I tried standard plant soap but it didn�t help.
The Leaves begin to go brown and curl. It does not appear very leafy or healthy.
Thanks
David
Like Cynthia I have a problem identifying the plant as the leaves are red,any comments.
I have this plant and it was doing well until I noticed today that the leaves are turning brown. After a closer look, I noticed that it was covered with tiny bugs the same color as the leaves. They are so minute, I cannot descibe what they look like. Do you have any ideas about what to do? I don't want to loose this plant. Thank you.
I just picked up this honeysuckle from a nursery late in the season and I am wondering if I can plant it in a pot against a fence. If so, how large a pot would be needed? And to keep the roots cool, perhaps I could cover with bits of broken clay pots???? Any advice? Thanks, Helena
my husband and I have been living in our house for nine years and i have done nothing with the backyard, i left it as it was from the previous owners who had done very little. Thanks to your photo i decided to look up, not only the mandarin but other vines and shrubs and have decided to plant the mandarin in my far back corner along the fence line which gets sun all day, as well as the chocolate vine across from the kitchen and a dutchmans pipe as you walk into the backyard thru the fence gate. Just to let you know that once i had these plants in the ground i was so excited i ran to get my camera missed a step in the garage and broke my foot, so at least now i can sit in my kitchen and enjoys my new plants.
Sorry to hear about your foot, Jordana! I hope you'll recover soon!
I brought a Mandarin 3 seasons ago. It was in flower the first season that I planted it. Since then the last two seasons have not produced any flowers. It grows very well. It seems to produce some buds but do not materalise into a colourful flower. What is happening? It is planted against a trellis on a SW facing wall and gets partial sunshine and is protected from the wind. Apart from the non flowering it is very healthy.
Where can I get information of how to get one?
I have planted Lonicera Mandarin last year . I live in Saskatchewan Canada. It started to twine itself on the arbor I planted it by. It grew last year but now that spring is here the twine of last years growth ther but no new signs of growth. Does it grow on last years growth or do I have to prune it down ? I was hoping it would open up and grow where it ended last year. Please give me some info, not sure if it died on me, which I hope it did not. Thanks
i have had this plant for 3 years, and am in love with its blooms, scent, everything. today i discovered aphids all over it, and I am scared to death it is witches broom - which seems to suggest there is no hope and i should replant. but the plants are huge and so well established. is there anything i can do to save my plants?
The neighbors of my parents planted a mandarin honeysickle along their adjoining chain link fence many years ago. They live in Florida. It fills out beautifully along the 30' long fence every year. The only maintenance they have done is to cut it even with the top of the 4'H fence, and cut any vines that try to climb up the oak tree in the corner near the fence. Otherwise it is very impressive, and I plan to take cuttings and plant some at my new home. Thanks for all of the other information from your readders.
While walking around the edge of our yard this morning my husband and I discovered what looks very much like a pacht of Mandarin honysuckle growing in the bush. I had purchased two plants app 10 years ago but they did not survive here, or so I thought, we are Zone 2, app 500 km north of Edmonton AB. I had probably through the dead plants onto a brush pile at the edge of the yard. Although the color is not as strong, Im sure from the picture that it is a honeysuckle and is spreading vegitatively under the layers of moss and leaf debris as there were several plants grouped in one area but nowhere else in the bush. Any comments?