Digging In: The Scourge of Honeysuckle

By Jennifer Smith

What’s one more honeysuckle shrub? How much harm can it do? When I hear that I believe my reaction would be the same as a personal trainer’s reaction to a client saying what’s one more donut or bag of chips? It’s the little things that add up and make the difference. A fitness coach will tell you it’s each decision to take the stairs, forgo processed food, park farther from the front door and drink water instead of soda that makes or breaks your fitness goals. 

The same is true for the plants you select to add or keep in your landscape and our ability to create an environment that is more conducive to nature.  While I am by no means a purist when it comes to plant selection for the home garden, I do believe the removal of the top contenders for most invaluable and detrimental non-native plants should be edited from the home landscape.

Honeysuckle is a brute in the landscape. Its presence in natural settings is particularly destructive. Native plants, including our beloved and essential spring ephemerals are bullied out of their growing environment. Native saplings struggle to find footing and in no time, what should be a diverse collection of plants from low growing native ground covers to tall hardwoods is replaced by invasive plants. Case in point, the woods in our local parks. Where honeysuckle has gained traction, one can see a dense stand of honeysuckle and little else. 

Turn a corner to an area being cleared of honeysuckle and the view changes dramatically. The woods appear to open up, native plants carpet the floor and understory trees flourish. It looks like a natural space.  The eradication of a handful of invasive plants, including honeysuckle, has an immediate impact on the health and viability of the woods. Native plants reemerge after years of dormancy, more insects are supported by the native plants, and as a result, birds have more insects to feed their young.  The rhythm of natural life becomes more balanced.

Beyond a healthy eco system, people also feel welcome and safe in such a setting. Being able to see into the woods makes exploring the park trail systems more inviting. We want our parks to be welcoming, healthy and viable. And a lot of that comes simply by eliminating the honeysuckle to open up sightlines.  Luckily, a few dedicated, passionate volunteers are making headway in the parks, methodically removing honeysuckle, acre by acre. One such volunteer is Peter Wimberg who has dedicated countless hours to bringing the woods of Ault Park more into balance.

“Where the honeysuckle has been removed, native plants have returned in full force. Some plants we thought to be extinct in our area have even been discovered,” shares Wimberg.  “Within a year of removing the honeysuckle there’s a noticeable uptick in plant diversity.”

The removal of honeysuckle is not a one-event endeavor. It’s necessary to revisit a site that’s been cleared of mature plants to remove fresh shoots and new plants starting from seed. With the prevalence of honeysuckle in the woods and the home landscape, volunteers like Wimberg will constantly be pushing back on honeysuckle’s encroachment.  But if there are fewer plants to have their seed distributed, the weight of that battle could be a bit lighter.

Removing honeysuckle from our home landscape is more than replacing a useless plant with one that’s of value to nature and far more attractive, it’s a way to help those that are ridding our parks of this noxious plant. Do a good deed for your local park this year and remove honeysuckle from your landscape!

Jennifer Smith is an award-winning pollinator garden designer with Wimberg Landscaping.