Loni: My Garden Beauty

I know that I gush about a lot of a few plants on occasion.  I could wax poetic for hours on the delights of the oakleaf hydranges, heucheras, and sedums, for example.  But few other plants inspire the delight that my lonicera sempervirens, a honeysuckle native to the U.S., does. 

This plant has a beauty and presence in the garden that few other plants can boast.  With such a vivacious personality, you know it was only a matter of time before she became one of the few plants I tend to acquire a proper nickname.  "Honey" seemed too sweet... but I remember watching M*A*S*H with my mom when I was a kid, and Loni Anderson played the blonde bombshell (with brains and a big heart, to boot) on a show that came on right after M*A*S*H.  So "Loni" seemed a much more fitting name for my garden beauty:

I occasionally take some of Loni's longest limbs and weave them in and out of the tops of the pickets.  Even without my help, she drapes herself elegantly along the fenceline:

My favorite way to view her is backlit.  In the morning, when I look out my picture window, she is backlit by the morning sun.  In the slanted light just before sundown, she smolders:

Even the leaves look amazing, with their blue-green shades in flat light, and the bright green glow that pops out with a little backlighting:

And on top of all that?  She's easy to grow, and doesn't require a fuss.  In fact, she's so perfect that you wonder what all of the other plants must think of her... and determine that even though they probably all WANT to hate her, and are a little bit envious, they can't help but love her, too.

A final warning:  This will not be the last Ode to Loni on my blog.  The number of blooms waxes and wanes throughout the summer, but... well, in spite of being a vine, Loni is not really a wallflower.  She isn't afraid to strut her stuff, and the show often lasts until the first frost.  Expect even more pictures as the show goes on!