Tag: honeysuckle

Florida Native Coral Honeysuckle is Planted for Hummingbirds

Planting the coral honeysuckle with a new obelisk for support.

A Florida native plant that I’ve wanted in the yard for some time is the Coral Honeysuckle. A tiny plant was part of my mail order selection, but the plant arrived very tiny. I’m not sure I would live long enough to see it reach a great height!

After putting my Lee Valley Obelisk (large size) together, I needed a plant to go with it. At my local nursery there were many Coral Honeysuckle plants that looked great. I chose one, popped it into my little car, and planted it the following day.

How to Plant a Honeysuckle Vine

I chose a spot that would get lots of sun. This is a Florida native plant and it can take sun and heat. Read more about this vine at the IFAS Gardening Solutions: Coral Honeysuckle page.

The hole was easy to dig, once I removed all the roots growing under the sand. Here in Florida, rocks are not a problem when digging, but you may come across pieces of concrete that were left behind from the building of the house.

When checking out at the nursery, the woman talked me into getting a little bag of fertilizer to add to the hole. I also mixed in some of my own compost and a bit of Happy Frog, with the sand. BUT…. before I added dirt back into the hole, I placed my obelisk around the plant. That way the poles were down nice and far into the ground.

I also planted the tiny, mail order plant right next to the bigger plant.

Garden site where new coral honeysuckle plant will be.
Spot is chosen
Digging a hole is sand filled with roots
Digging roots and sand
Readying the hole for planting the coral honeysuckle in the garden
Mixing good stuff into the soil
Undoing the bamboo stakes that hold the honeysuckle plant
Old staking system

Once the plant was in the ground, I undid the ties holding the old trellis system. Three bamboo stakes were tied for the vine to wrap around. I planned to remove the bamboo completely, but decided to leave it in place. Much of the honeysuckle was already firmly wrapped around them.

I will train the vines to continue up the trellis. Once it gets tall, the hummingbirds should love it. I haven’t had hummingbirds since the Firespike plant lost its red flowers. Honeysuckle can loose its leaves in cold locations, but grows well in the entire state of Florida, Zones 4-10. It will bloom all Spring and Summer!

Once the mulch was down, I gave this new plant a good soaking with three fills of my Haws watering can.

Black obelisk over planted coral honeysuckle

Once the Coral Honeysuckle is established, it shouldn’t need much attention. I’ll keep it pruned to fit the round trellis.

coral honeysuckle flowers
Coral honeysuckle flower
planting a coral honeysuckle vine into the ground.
black obelisk around coral honeysuckle

The rainy season is here, and with our regular afternoon storms, this plant should do quite well.

garden divider leaves