Lonicera Celestial

Lonicera 'Celestial' is a small hybrid Honeysuckle, quickly forming a dense and rounded climber with bluish foliage, which is very decorative. Its summer flowering is long lasting and truly delicate: its long, very fine flowers, coloured pink and salmon orange, radiate around a central point. It is easy to integrate into a small garden, can be trained to climb or used as groundcover, and can be easily grown in a large pot on the patio, where it will provide a wonderful fragrance. This variety, with its many qualities, adapts to any ordinary soil, tolerates summer drought, and proves resistant to diseases.

Lonicera 'Celestial' is a hybrid of horticultural origin. All Honeysuckles belong to the Caprifoliaceae family. 'Celestial' is a deciduous to semi-evergreen variety, depending on the severity of the winter, with a climbing habit. The mature plant will reach an average height of 3m (10ft) and a spread of 1.50m (5ft). The particularly generous flowering period from June to September takes place at the tips of the young shoots, throughout the growth period. The very fine tubular flowers, 4cm (2in) long, dark pink in bud, open to reveal two lips of a bright yellow-orange tinged with pink, exhaling a powerful fragrance. They are arranged in almost flat whorls, like the spokes of a wheel, in the axils of the leaves, producing some non-edible red berries. The young voluble branches are green in colour. The foliage is composed of thick, rounded leaves, 5cm (2in) in diameter, which sometimes appear pierced in the centre by the stem. They take on a lovely green-blue colour when mature.

Lonicera Celestial can be trained to climb on a trellis, a fence, or an espalier, especially on a pergola located on a patio, a terrace, or near the house where its fragrant flowering will be greatly appreciated. Alternatively, according to individual preferences, it can be placed on a fence or a stone wall where it will gracefully cascade down. When grown as a bush, it will enhance a border near the house or the foreground of a flowering hedge, the edge of a group of trees... There are plenty of ideas for associations with clematis: for example, it can be paired with small clematis varieties like Clematis patens Shin-Shigyoku, Prince Charles, winter or officinal jasmine, perennial peas (Lathyrus latifolius), a small climbing rose 'Laguna', bright pink or Ghislaine de Féligonde and Alchemist in warm tones.