Flower bed flowering shrub Kintzley's Ghost Honeysuckle

yellow flowers

There is a good chance you’ve never seen a Kintzley’s Ghost Honeysuckle (Lonicera reticulata x Lonicera prolifera). We hadn’t seen one until recently…and now we can’t get it out of our minds! This is unlike any honeysuckle you’ve ever seen and unlike any other on the market today. It begins its display in spring with a flush of pretty blue-green leaves. Then in the late spring/early summer it covers itself in bunches of small yellow tubular honeysuckle flowers that have a sweet, slight fragrance as you brush by. So far, it’s akin to many other honeysuckles, right? But here is where things get good. Behind every flower is a perfectly circular, silvery-white, eucalyptus-like bract that stays on the vine well into the winter, long after the flowers have faded. It looks like hundreds of full moons against the foliage! As if that isn’t enough to set it apart, in the fall a little orange-red berry appears in the center of each silvery bract, dressing the entire vine up to match the autumn season. This stunning and unique vine was originally bred in 1880 by Ped Kintzley at Iowa State, but was lost to the public until 2001 when one was spotted in a side alley yard in old Ft. Collins, CO.. The owner of the house, Ped’s grandson, had never really thought about the uniqueness of the vine he had. Thanks to an observant gardener, we can now offer this award winning honeysuckle to you! * Completely unique honeysuckle * Three seasons of interest * Easy, quick-growing native