Photo Credit: Lane Greer

Slightly arching, hollow green stems are characteristic of this beautiful shrub.

If I told you there’s a great plant called Himalayan honeysuckle, what would you picture? Maybe you’d think of Japanese honeysuckle and picture the world overrun by a vine with sweet-smelling flowers? Or perhaps you’d focus on the “Himalayan” part of its name and think the plant grows only in high mountains? Well, you’d be way off on both accounts.

First, Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa) is a shrub, not a vine. It has white flowers, but they’re not fragrant. And it’s hardy only to USDA hardiness Zone 6b or 7, so high mountain ranges are out of the question.

Photo Credit: Lane Greer

You can find blooms, bracts and berries on Himalayan honeysuckle all at the same time.

But this very underappreciated shrub has lots of positives: Its hollow green stems are reminiscent of bamboo, but without the invasive properties. Its leaves are long and edged in purple, and in late summer the leaf veins turn purple, too. Its small, white flowers appear in midsummer (and keep going until frost), and they’re surrounded by dark red bracts that droop from stem tips. In late summer, the plant produces edible fruits that mature from green to pink to red to dark purple. (Many people say the fruit tastes like burnt caramel – and if you don’t eat them, the wildlife surely will!) What’s more, the fruit production doesn’t stop the flowers – it’s very common for both to appear on the plant simultaneously, adding to this shrub’s ongoing beauty.

Despite all its attributes, Himalayan honeysuckle isn’t very well known (probably because it’s somewhat tender). But once you’ve seen the plant in a grouping, it’s hard to forget! Plant it in almost any moist soil in full sun or part shade and it’ll grow fast – reaching about 6 feet tall and about as wide by season’s end.