Out of This World
If you’re on the hunt for something unique to add to your garden, something that will stop passersby in their tracks to ask, “What’s that?”, Kintzley’s Ghost® honeysuckle (Lonicera reticulata) might just be the perfect plant for you. This vine is a one-of-a-kind North American native honeysuckle, making it a tough landscape performer as well.
In early summer, Kintzley’s Ghost® sports tubular fragrant yellow flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The true showpiece of this plant, though, is the unique flying saucer-like bracts that form around the flowers and give the plant a eucalyptus-like look. When the flowers fade, red berries take their place against the blue-white bracts.
Use this vine on trellises, obelisks, railings, fences, and more! It will climb most structures without help, and it’ll look fabulous doing it.
Kintzley’s Ghost® is suited for USDA Zones 4-8 and requires full to part sun. It grows to 6-12’ tall and 5’ wide. This beauty is deer-resistant and very drought-tolerant once established. Because it flowers on old wood, pruning Kintzley’s Ghost® is not recommended as it will remove the most noteworthy feature, the bracts.
What Tools do I Need as a New Gardener?
There are a lot of gardening tools out there, and if you’re just starting a garden, it can be overwhelming to try to figure out which tools you’ll need and which you really don’t. Check out Kristina’s “Gardening Tools for Beginners” blog, where she walks you through the basic garden tools you may want as a beginner gardener and explains what each tool is used for.