Invasive Plants - Honeysuckle
WANTED: Invasive Plants: Bush Honeysuckle
Photo of Honeysuckle flowers from Maine.gov
Photo of Honeysuckle berries from Maine.gov
Bush honeysuckles are highly invasive plants in Maine, brought in with good intentions from Asia. They compete with our native species very (too) successfully. They leaf out earlier in the spring and retain their leaves late into the fall, crowding out many of our native plants (including some rare species). They’re pretty and smell great in the spring. But they are wiping out everything underneath them.
We do have some native honeysuckle: Fly-honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) and mountain honeysuckle (Lonicera villosa). The native species have a solid pith in their stems. The invasive species have hollow cores (sometimes brown colored). Cut a section to see.
The best way to control them is to prevent their initial colonization. Pull them out as soon as you see them. They are easy to pull up as seedlings. Try to get the whole root. Once established, they are much harder to get rid of. They can be cut repeatedly, until you finally exhaust the root system (this will take several years). Cutting will slow down the seed production, helping to slow the spread. The other control methods used include burning and herbicides.
For more information go to:
University of Maine Cooperative Extension: https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2507e/
Maine.gov: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/invasive_plants/lonicera.htm
We have formed a small group of people interested in learning about invasive plants in Maine, and what we can do to help. If you’d like to join us, we meet at the Prince Memorial Library on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 6:30pm, from April through November. All are welcome!
To be added to our email list, email Mandy Ball at mandyballroomdance@gmail.com