What's Blooming Now

Coral honeysuckle, lonicera sempervirens, is a native perennial vine widely cultivated and available through nurseries. Although found across America, coral honeysuckle does best in its native Southeast. The two-inch-long tubular red flowers grow in clusters, radiating out like trumpets at the ends of stems. The red of the flower is accented by the yellow of its stamens and pistil that barely emerge to greet ruby-throated hummingbirds that sip their nectar. The length of its tubular flowers and lack of broad petals for landing sites keep bees from the nectar; and the first two leaves below the flowers form a tiny barrier to climbing insects in search of nectar.

While coral honeysuckle blooms most profusely in spring, it continues well into fall-providing nectar for hummingbirds until they depart. Clusters of pollinated flowers produce small cherry-red berries that are eaten by other birds that disperse their seeds.

-Jerome A. Jackson, Florida Gulf Coast University