Tired of mowing dangerous hillsides? Maybe you have an area too shady for grass to grow. Is your lake property in need of some bank stabilization and the soil is eroding? Need something for the edge of the woods, or a wide-spreading groundcover? Can’t get anything to grow along the road or driveway? Are those shrubs you planted getting crushed by snow that is shoveled or plowed on top of them, and now need replacing?
Sounds like we need to introduce you to the amazing Diervilla!
Incredible, Amazing, Versatile Diervilla!
Diervilla is a superb native plant that has been getting a lot of attention lately! Commonly known as Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle, Diervilla is closely related to the Honeysuckle Vine (Lonicera), and you’ll see the family resemblance when these gorgeous little shrubs bloom with yellow tubular flowers! The Hummingbirds, bees and butterflies quickly seek out these shrubs to sip the nectar and gain easy access from the flowers that stand upright along the tops of each branch!
There are three different species that are very widespread over a large area which include Northern, Southern, and Mountain species.
These native forms of Diervilla politely sucker, forming densely branched, deciduous colonies without becoming invasive or troublesome. Cultivars can be more compact and rounded, or just as wide-spreading in nature.
Yellow blooms are produced sporadically from summer into fall. But these are self-sterile shrubs and require pollination from a similar nearby species. Pollinated flowers give rise to seeds that birds love!
The older bark starts taking on a striated look of light and dark gray stripes but the young bark is smooth and can be colorful in some varieties! Many new cultivars have fantastically colorful foliage all spring, summer, and autumn for a gorgeous show all growing season long! The foliage also acts as a larval Host Plant for the Fawn Sphinx Moth!
The different species and the many cultivars are all low-growing, spreading plants and never large gangly shrubs, nor invasive!
Need more of a reason to love these great flowering ornamentals? Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle grows in sun or shade and has zero disease or insect problems! Nature Hills Nursery is in love with these rugged, hard-working native shrubs!
You'll support beneficial pollinators and songbirds, but deer tend to leave Bush Honeysuckle alone in the landscape.
The Many Faces of Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle
Plant breeders have noticed what a great plant Diervilla is, and have hybridized many natural crosses. Bush Honeysuckle is catching the eye of professional landscapers and knowledgeable gardeners across the country! We're excited to offer these excellent, field-tested selections from Proven Winners® and First Editions® teams and more!
Available in a wealth of foliage and flower colors, there is surely a showy Honeysuckle Bush just right for you and your landscape.
- The fantastic and original native Bush Honeysuckle is perfect for those desiring endemic gardens and anyone trying to support their local ecology. Fantastic bronzy colored leaves age dark green and have excellent fall color.
- Try a magical purple-leafed and nearly black Firefly™ Nightglow™ has incredibly mysterious, dark, and dramatic foliage and bright yellow blossoms!
- A bold native cultivar with bright yellow blooms, the Kodiak® Black Bush Honeysuckle features burgundy-purple foliage that really lets the flowers stand out from the shrub! Holding their dramatic foliage color all growing season.
- Landscape Shrub of the Year winner Kodiak® Orange Bush Honeysuckle features brilliant orange-yellow foliage, yellow flowers, and fiery fall color and grows in dreaded dry shade conditions, too!
- Variegated Cool Splash® Dwarf Honeysuckle Bush looks great all season with a lush fill of lovely cream and dark green leaves, plus yellow blooms in the summertime, and shocking pink fall color!
There are also the Lonicera shrub cousins available that are fantastic groundcover shrubs that stay low and grow wide!
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The semi-evergreen Privet Honeysuckle has horizontal branches nearly 8 feet wide
- The xeric Miniglobe Honeysuckle has blue-green foliage and a tidy rounded form
- The Emerald Mound is another low-growing and wide-spreading indestructible shrub
- The largest, up to 8 feet tall & 6 feet wide, Clavey's Dwarf Honeysuckle has it all!
- For symmetrical texture and chartreuse foliage, Edmee Gold is an unusual evergreen!
It’s important to note that none of Nature Hills Honeysuckle shrubs are the invasive Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)! No, these are simply spreading, suckering Bush Honeysuckles and stay right where they are planted. Nature Hills ensures that none of our plants get into trouble by using Plant Sentry™!
Looking for Vining Honeysuckle? We carry a great selection of Honeysuckle Vines to use on trellis, fences, arbors and other lattice structures and add their own touch of easy care, vertical fragrance, and color among their shrub cousins. Can also be used as a groundcover.
The Versatile Diervilla In The Landscape!
All of these showy Honeysuckle Bushes are hard-working plants throughout a wide section of North America! Many are hardy down to Growing Zone 3 and 4, while a few may be semi-evergreen in Hardiness Zones 7 and 8! Once established, Honeysuckle Bushes needs very little care to thrive.
Woodland Thickets
Their nature is to colonize. That's a bad thing in a tiny garden bed, but a welcome trait in a long, boring border with plenty of bare ground to fill. Small gardens and those short on space should choose Miniglobe. But if you need a suckering and politely thicket-forming Honeysuckle, then the rest of this family of shrubs has you covered!
Spreading Groundcover
All Bush Honeysuckle will happily spread to cover wide swaths of ground and fill in the bare spots en masse, making them ideal for slowing rain and stormwater and controlling erosion! Think of Honeysuckle as a ‘living carpet’ and you'll think of a zillion places to use it!
Why worry about weeds? Create an outdoor living carpet that is flowering, and colorful by using Diervilla Bush Honeysuckle plants en masse! Commercial property owners appreciate a plant to grow and enliven public spaces.
You will want to give Diervilla room to do their thing. We list their mature height and width in the Plant Highlights on every product page on our website, so please study their mature needs to get the best results! If you prefer these plants to remain smaller simply cut them back hard each spring.
Erosion & Slopes
Stop mowing that steep slope! Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle can solve your steep bank dangers by covering the area and holding the soil in place eliminating erosion. They work super along streams and rivers and lakefront properties without blocking your view, so long as they are not in soggy soil. Many Honeysuckle shrubs are quite at home in dry shade!
Hedges & Property Division
For an indestructible and low-maintenance hedge, facer shrub, garden backdrop, and a plant-it-and-forget-it garden border, you can’t go wrong with these versatile and adaptable shrubs! Installing Bush Honeysuckle gives you unique blooms, texture, and fall color almost anywhere.
Let them fill in the front of your mixed shrub borders. Diervilla is a celebrated filler plant that adds soft texture and intense color to your yard. Run Honeysuckle bushes in a low garden bed near your patio, or polish up the edges of your mixed beds. This kind of effortless modern styling brings designer-style landscaping with minimum care! Large outdoor containers can also be planted with cold-hardy Honeysuckle Bushes!
Need a small hedge or low-growing shrub border, or an easy-going plant that’s nearly indestructible to naturalize freely throughout a woodland garden without worrying about deer browsing? Choose Diervilla!
Indestructible Accents
In very little time and with minimal effort those bare spots and hell-strips of xeric, dry sun or shade will become filled with life! Imagine small, mounded thickets of colorful foliage and sweetly scented flowering blooms - rather than hardscrabble bare dirt.
Easy Breezy Diervilla Care
Do you see a trend? Honeysuckle bushes take difficult conditions in stride, filling your landscape with an easy, charming color!
Diervilla Tolerates:
- Snow load - Easily regrows each spring from the roots
- Light exposure to salt
- Diervilla plants grow best in cool summer climates
- Tolerates drought
- Virtually no insect, deer, or pest issues!
- Sun or shade
Easily grown in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Some varieties can even tolerate full shade! They do best in well-drained soil but are not particular on soil type and pH.
Water Bush Honeysuckle consistently during the first season. Even after their root systems become established in your soil, we do recommend supplemental water in times of drought.
In especially dry, hot, and poor-soil conditions, Honeysuckle appreciates a 3-4 inch thick layer of mulch over the entire dripline area of their root systems. Even if your shrubs aren’t planted in tricky sites, a layer of arborist bark chips keeps the foliage clean of mud splashing up during rain, keeps their roots insulated from the heat and cold, holds in moisture, and just makes the planting bed look polished and complete!
Prune When it's time to freshen up your planting of Diervilla, Simply cut the plants to the ground in early spring and they will quickly regrow all new shoots from the roots and still bloom on that new growth summer into fall. How easy is that?
Powerhouse Bush Honeysuckle Plants!
Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle are tough, cold-tolerant, and virtually indestructible! When it comes to a bird and butterfly-friendly landscape that saves your back and saves you time - every little bit is helpful, isn't it? Create the marvelous, low-maintenance garden of your dreams with the wise use of these beneficial plants and you’ll look like a gardening pro!
Adaptability is their middle name! Check out all the colorful varieties of Bush Honeysuckle available at NatureHills.com today!
Happy Planting!
