About this cultivar:
Lonicera x purpusii 'Winter Beauty' is strong-growing, rounded, medium-sized deciduous shrub (not a climber!) with ovate leaves and small, sweetly-scented cream flowers, on the bare branches in winter and early spring, occasionally followed by red berries. Red-purple shoots unfurl into dark green leaves.
Hard to predict when it will flower, you'll usually get two to three months of interest.
Probably the best winter flowering honeysuckle (It has the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit). Make sure you plant this honeysuckle where is can be smelled! Walls, windows, gates... it is not a climber but you can try and grow it as such.
This cultivar was introduced in 1966 and bred by Peter Dummer, who also introduced Cotinus ‘Grace' amongst many other cultivars.
The species, Lonicera x purpusii, is a cross between Lonicera fragrantissima and Lonicera standishii that arose spontaneously at Darmstadt Botanic Gardens in the 1923. Probably the most influential arborist at the time, Alfred Rehder (1863–1949, then of Harvard) named the new species after two German plant collectors, the brothers Carl Albert Purpus (1851-1941) and Joseph Anton Purpus (1860-1932). Joseph worked at the Botanical Garden of Darmstadt, for 40 years, right up until his death in 1932. A plaque in the garden remembers them.
- Position: Full sun, partial shade
- Soil: Almost any soil, grows well in Ballyrobert
- Flowers: November, December, January, February, March
- Other features: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (RHS AGM), Scented
- Hardiness: Fully hardy, grows well in Ballyrobert, H6 - Hardy in all of UK and northern Europe (-20 to -15°C)
- Habit: Bushy
- Foliage: Deciduous
- Height: 150 - 250 cm (5 - 8 ft)
- Spread: 150 - 250 cm (5 - 8 ft)
- Time to full growth: 10 to 20 years
- Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial
- Colour: Green, white
- Goes well with: -
About this genus:
Lonicera (Lon-es-er-a), named after the Renaissance botanist Adam Lonicer, are arching shrubs or twining vines in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae) - in fact the common name IS honeysuckle! Native to the Northern Hemisphere, there are approximately 180 species of honeysuckle, 100 of which occur in China while about 20 native species occur in Europe, India and, North America.
Lonicera prefers partial sun and grows in most soils that are not sitting in water, although it is a remarkably adaptable genus. Try combining Lonicera with buddleia and Monarda.