Winter-Flowering Honeysuckle.

Posted by

Ali Barwani

22 January 2026

On 22 January 2026

I have been stuck indoors for a fortnight. Not by choice, because it is cold and dreary outside, but due to having the ‘flu’. Keeping warm and hydrated has been my only concern. I haven’t been eating much, however now that I am recovering, I have noticed that my appetite is returning. I have also discovered, like Old Mother Hubbard, that the cupboard is bare. Time to visit the supermarket.

As I walk from the shelter of the covered arcade in my local Sainsbury’s and into the drizzle, which is blowing like a coastal sea fret, I make sure to look both ways before setting foot on the zebra crossing that guides me across to my bus stop. Umbrellas are up among the queuing passengers, wet domes ducking and bobbing like a cluster of colourful mushrooms in a Pixar film. Rain gathers in my hands and face as I wait. However, I know something my fellow travellers don’t. Poking through the railings of the flats by the bus stop is a large, slightly messy, winter flowering shrub. It might not look much in the rain and dark, but I always keep an eye out for it in the winter. I surreptitiously snap off a couple of protruding twigs; they are soaked by the rain, and I place them on top my shopping bag. The shrub is Lonicera fragrantissima, or winter-flowering honeysuckle.

When I get home, I pop the sprays into a small glass vase that is perfect for accommodating a few stems and then go an unpack my shopping. By the time I am sitting down with a cup of tea and something good from the biscuit tin I can smell the delightful honey-like perfume of the honeysuckle in the kitchen.

At first sight, winter honeysuckle appears quite unlike those familiar garden climbers that flower in summer. It is a shrub that forms a tangle of slender, arching branches. Lonicera fragrantissima was introduced to the UK in 1845 by the Scottish plant hunter Robert Fortune, who was hunting for ‘garden worthy plants’ in China for the Royal Horticultural Society. Valued for its fragrant winter blossom it is also known by the common name of ‘sweet breath of spring’. The bushes grow to around one to three metres tall, although I have seen some specimens exceed this. I think they look at their best when grown trained against a wall, where they benefit from regular pruning. E. A. Bowles (1865-1954), the great plantsman and garden writer, recommended this sweetly scented winter-flowering shrub should find a place in every garden. Even though the cream-white flowers are small, they are produced in flushes of profusion. If you look closely at a spray, then you will see that the flowers are borne in pairs that are so closely set together they look like a single flower. Although much smaller than the flowers of climbing honeysuckles, the blooms are typical in shape. It is these small white flowers with their distinct golden-yellow stamens that give us their rich, lemony-honeysuckle scent this month. On sunny days, you can spot large queen bumblebees, honeybees, flies and hoverflies visiting the fragrant flowers. The RHS has recognised the importance of this once-stop shop for early pollinators, nominating it as their Wildlife Wonder Plant of the Month for January 2026.

Lonicera x purpusii is a hybrid between Lonicera fragrantissima and another species, Lonicera standishii. It grows larger than both its parents, often exceeding five metres. Its creamy-white flowers are equally heavily scented, but the plant is much more floriferous than its parents. It has a reliable flowering period from December into March. It also has the advantage of retaining fewer of its old leaves over winter, so has a tidier look. The influential gardeners and garden writers, Beth Chatto and Christopher Lloyd, both recommended growing this hybrid. And if you want an improved form, one that is more compact and very free flowering, then I suggest seeking out the cultivated variety Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’, introduced in 1962.

Back at work, I am now able to look up our stock levels for these shrubs. We only have one plant available, left over from last year, and there aren’t any on order. Why is one of the most beautifully scented winter shrubs so seldom asked for nowadays? Perhaps they are too straggly for most gardeners? Or could it be that people just don’t spend much time in the garden in December and January? I suspect a bit of both. If you have never experienced the pleasure of catching the mysterious whiff of winter flowering honeysuckle in your garden on a cold January day and bringing a few stems into the house for their sweetly scented perfume, then you probably will overlook this unobtrusive shrub sitting in a pot in the garden centre in January. Unfortunately, until people start requesting this superbly scented winter flowering shrub it will remain the Cinderella of the winter garden.