Lonicera sempervirens John Clayton

Lonicera sempervirens 'John Clayton' is a delicious compact form of honeysuckle, a climbing plant renowned for its robustness and perpetual flowering. It climbs up to 4m (13ft) in height and is adorned with foliage that is almost succulent, a beautiful bluish green, often evergreen in winter. Although not fragrant, its flowering is captivating due to its duration: its slender, brightly yellow flowers bloom from spring to autumn, and sometimes almost all year round in mild climates. This variety has excellent adaptability, and its cultivation is within the reach of all gardeners, even inexperienced ones.

The 'John Clayton' honeysuckle is derived from Lonicera sempervirens, native to the southeastern United States. It was discovered and selected on the grounds of an old church in Gloucester, Virginia, and named in honor of a 17th-century American botanist. Very cold-resistant, it thrives in both waterlogged soils and rockier, drier soils in summer. This plant appreciates sunny or semi-shaded exposures. Its foliage will disappear in winter in our coldest regions, but will persist in moderate to mild climates. Honeysuckles belong to the Caprifoliaceae family.

'John Clayton', a fast-growing plant, produces 4m (13ft) stems that bear thick, opposite pairs of leaves. The basal leaves are elongated and ovate (7.5cm (3in)), while those in the upper part, under the flowers, are smaller, more rounded and fused into a disc, so that the stem seems to pierce them. Their colour evolves from purple at budbreak to a slightly glaucous greyish-green at maturity. Flowering occurs at the tips of young shoots, throughout the growing season, from May-June to September. The slender, 5cm (2in) long tube-shaped flowers are light yellow, and their nectar-richness attracts pollinators. They are arranged in dense, almost flat clusters, like the spokes of a wheel, in the axils of the leaves.  After pollination, they produce red berries that are not edible but appreciated by birds. The young branches are green, their bark turns brown and exfoliates over time, revealing a young straw-yellow wood.

Lonicer 'John Clayton' is fantastic for quickly concealing anything that needs to be hidden in a modest-sized garden, from an unsightly wire fence to an unattractive garden shed. Left to grow freely, it will fill in a declining hedge or enhance the edge of a grove of trees... In partial shade, there are plenty of combinations with clematis to consider: for example, it can be paired with lovely clematis like montana Mayleen, climbing roses like Ghislaine de Féligonde, or winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) or officinalis, a hardy passionflower like P. incarnata...