Despite being far from a committed optimist my default is to look for the best in things. I have always felt that everyone has some redeeming feature, if you make the effort to find it, though in the past decade I have discovered I might be rather naive. In the same way I like to think that most plants have redeeming features, even if they may not be obvious at first sight.

Everyone adores honeysuckle with its twining stems hauling the tubular flowers into the evening air where they fill their surroundings with ethereal fragrance. The shrubby honeysuckles don’t share the same wow factor but they are still useful plants in the garden. The winter-flowering kinds have the most followers, for their (small) fragrant flowers but the rest don’t get much attention. There are two evergreen species that are commonly grown in gardens. Lonicera nitida is often grown as a low hedge and for topiary and Lonicera pileata is used as tough ground cover. It is dense, small-leaved and fine textured and useful for banks and in shade.

Useful is a bit of an insult really because most people plant Lonicera pileata because they have to and not because they want to. I admit that when it came to planting an area in shade at the back of the house where the choice was limited, I did not hesitate to choose pachysandra and Lonicera pileata, in the form of ‘Maigrun’ which has brighter foliage than the species. I happen to actually like both plants. I have a nasty feeling I might end up being a ‘pen pal’ with a serial killer on death row!

The branches arch and can root when they touch the soil and although it is not recommended for wet soils, mine just gets on with it even though it can be soggy. It doesn’t get any direct light once the sun drops below the equator, from late September to March. So far, so dull.

But in spring the plant flowers and the small, cream blooms are quite profuse but rather hidden under the foliage because of the arching and low habit. But the bees aren’t fooled and the busy themselves around them. It is therefore a useful plant for pollinators.

But the real fun comes now when the plants can be undercovered with berries. Undercovered? Well yes, because the berries are under the foliage, just like the flowers.

You can get a glimpse of them if you look hard but you don’t really appreciate their beauty unless you cut some stems and turn them over. The berries are round, translucent and vibrant purple. No boring old red berries here! I think they make callicarpa look dull. They are so beautiful. If only they were not hidden.

I am not sure if anything feeds on them. I am not sure if they are edible for people. I have read that they are not poisonous but I don’t suggest you try. Of course some lonicera fruits are edible – I have planted lots of honey berries (Lonicera caerulea) although I must admit that, so far, these seem only barely edible and can only assume they are called honey berries because you need to cover them in honey to make them palatable!

lonicera nitida, lonicera pileata, lonicera pileata maigrun