Lonicera x heckrottii American Beauty

Lonicera x heckrotii 'American Beauty' is a particularly floriferous hybrid Honeysuckle, with a climbing habit and moderate dimensions, making it suitable for small gardens or for growing in a large pot on the terrace. It captivates with its long and abundant, vividly coloured summer flowers with floral and spicy scents. Its numerous flowers, composed of a pink-violet tube opening onto a yellow-orange throat, succeed each other over a very long period, on beautiful foliage that becomes green-blue, more or less evergreen depending on the climate. This variety is also very ornamental when grown as a bush, in a hedge or in a border.

Lonicera x Heckrotii 'American Beauty' is a horticultural hybrid with uncertain origins. Its parent, L.x Heckrotii, is the result of cross-breeding between L.sempervirens and L. americana. It is sometimes associated with the cultivar 'Gold Flame', to which it bears a strong resemblance. These plants all belong to the Caprifoliaceae family. 'American Beauty' is a deciduous to evergreen variety, with a bushy to climbing habit. When fully grown, the plant reaches an average height of 4m with a spread of 2.50m. The particularly generous flowering takes place from June to September at the tips of the young shoots. The tubular, 4cm long flowers, are a deep pink-violet and open onto two very bright yellow-orange lips, emitting a powerful fragrance. They are arranged in dense whorls in the axils of the leaves, producing some non-edible red berries. The young twining branches are reddish as is the juvenile foliage, adding an ornamental touch of colour to this delightful honeysuckle. The foliage consists of rounded, 5cm long leaves, which take on a lovely green-blue hue when mature.

Lonicera American Beauty can be trained to climb on a trellis, a fence or an espalier, or on a pergola on a patio, a terrace, or near the house where its fragrant flowering will be greatly appreciated. If you prefer, it can be grown on a fence or a stone wall, gracefully cascading down. When grown as a bush, it will enhance a flower bed near the house or the foreground of a flowering hedge or the edge of a grove. There are plenty of ideas for associations with clematis: for example, it can be paired with small clematis varieties such as Clematis patens Shin-Shigyoku, Prince Charles, winter or officinal jasmine, perennial peas (Lathyrus latifolius), a small climbing rose 'Laguna' in bright pink or Ghislaine de Féligonde and Alchemist in warm tones.