Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Wild honeysuckle

The woods this time of year come alive. When the days get longer and the sap begins to rise, a transformation takes place in the shadows.

Spindly dogwood trees try to reach into the canopy for a little slice of sunshine. The blossoms as big as your hand unfold and look like tiny lanterns in the undergrowth of the hollow.

An outcropping of rocks as big as Edsels lies at the edge of a  bluff overlooking a small rocky creek a few hundred yards behind the barn. 

Those rocks warm earlier in late winter which seems to be a perfect environment for wild honeysuckles. Some call the shrubs wild azaleas, but my people have always called them wild honeysuckles. They bloom white and many shades of red and pink.

Through the years, we've tried to transplant them from the wild into our yard without success. But then the last time we tried, it survived. Tiny, at first, we kept the soil around it aerated and nurtured with compost.

Last year when our azaleas bloomed, the little wild honeysuckle bloomed too.  Over last summer, it took a growth spurt. It bloomed late last week, but the last few days were beautiful and it decided to put on a show. Mother Nature got this little plant right.




14 comments:

  1. I used to love the taste of honeysuckles as a kid. It goes like this....
    "pinch, pull, suck".
    Lisa

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  2. Natures diversity never fails to amaze me.

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  3. This is a very pretty plant xox ♡

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  4. You have a great way of taking us with you on a walk or journey. Yes the Honeysuckle is amazing. And strange they can see to grow on rocks and concrete, but don't take well to being petted. But you guys seem to have succeeded.

    It is a beautiful 'wild' plant! and BE smelling so danged good.

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  5. You live in a world of color! Your photos give me a taste of the blooms I enjoyed in the mid-west. still can see curve in our road around a slope covered with those blooms.

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  6. I love your use of words to showcase the blooms. I can almost smell the beautiful honeysuckle and I can hear the great Lena Horne sing the song Honseysuckle Rose

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  7. Do these smell as good as honeysuckle? That is the best smell of spring.

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  8. Just beautiful ! I love honeysuckle!

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  9. Anonymous11:34 AM

    There was honeysuckle in our backyard when I was a kid. I used to suck on them when the hummingbirds weren't around!!

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  10. Love your early blooms! So pretty and I'm wondering if they have a pretty smell? Looks like they were worth the trouble of transplanting.

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  11. So beautiful! I love nature!

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  12. Nice photo, nature looking good

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