some shrubby honeysuckles

It was definitely warmer today, warm enough to bring the bees out foraging.  They were on the crocus, hellebores, daphnes, and the shrubby honeysuckles.  It is always a pleasure and a relief to see them, though I did take a quick look at the hives a few days ago and they all had live bees in them then.  If you look carefully at foraging bees you may see little brightly coloured balls of something on their hind legs, which is pollen (apologies to my beekeeping friends who already knew that).  Pollen is high in protein, and bees need it to produce food for their larvae.

A couple of shrubby honeysuckles are in flower now.  Lonicera x purpusii 'Winter Beauty' has made a largish rounded shrub in semi-shade.  The flowers are brilliant white, bourne in pairs from the leaf axils.  The leaves of honeysuckles are carried in opposite pairs up the stem, so two clusters of flowers are held opposite each other making four per cluster.  The cluster towards the end of the branch seems to open first, then successive clusters down the stem, which prolongs the display.  The edges of the petals are frilled and the stamens protrude beyond the mouth of the flower, so the whole effect is decorative in a restrained way.  The knockout feature and real reason for growing this shrub is the scent, which is strong, sweet and carrying.  I have heard gardening pundits dismiss it because it is fairly dull, if not downright scruffy, out of the flowering season.  It wouldn't be in my top ten shrubs for a small garden where everything needs to be contributing virtually all the time, but it's a good plant where you have the room.  I struggle to remember the difference between this and L. fragrantissima, which I don't grow and which always sounds so similar in books.

Far more aristocratic is Lonicera elisae.  This was only introduced to western cultivation in 1983, by Roy Lancaster.  It comes from China.  It was originally called Lonicera infundibulum var. rockii, which is a bit of a mouthful to remember, and I was slightly piqued when just as I'd learnt that off by heart the botanists changed it.  I fell in love with L. elisae on first sight.  My perception that it is a posh plant is based partly on its appearance, which is extremely elegant, and also on the fact that it was one of those plants that my employer would take with him as a present when visiting his gardening friends, and he moves in higher echelons of horticulture than I do.  Lonicera elisae is very beautiful.  The flowers are carried in the same arrangement as those of L. x purpusii, but they are longer and more slender, only flaring out at the tips of the petals.  Hillier describes them as pale primrose-yellow, tinged pink outside.  Viewed from any distance the effect is a pale apricot.  The leaves are just starting to break as the flowers open.  As they emerge they will turn a fetching shade of bronze for a time.  Hillier describes the flowers as fragrant, which is not something I really detect, but my plant is near 'Jacqueline Postill' and it's difficult to smell any other scent above that.  The growth habit is upright, slightly arching.