Lonicera nitida Garden Clouds Copper Glow - Box Honeysuckle

Lonicera nitida Garden Clouds Copper Glow is a selection of Boxleaf Honeysuckle with decorative copper-coloured young shoots, perfectly suited to replace boxwood. This evergreen shrub is easy to grow, naturally bushy, and tolerates pruning well. Ideal for creating topiary or low hedges, it grows faster than boxwood, has more colourful foliage, and is less susceptible to diseases.

Lonicera Garden Clouds belong to the Caprifoliaceae family. They are a series of Dutch cultivars that are very easy to shape, for example into a ball or pyramid. Their parent, Lonicera nitida, is a robust evergreen shrub native to the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. The Copper Glow cultivar reaches a height of approximately 90 cm (35.4 in) and a width of 60 cm (23.6 in) in 3 years. This shrub generally requires pruning once a year depending on its growing conditions.  This evergreen shrub has small, tough, glossy leaves that are copper-coloured when they emerge, bright green in summer, and even darker in autumn and winter. It produces small, discreet cream-white flowers in spring. The small purple fruits, toxic but appreciated by birds, are rarely seen and only develop if the plant is not pruned.

Plant Lonicera Garden Clouds Copper Glow in any well-drained even chalky soil, that isn't too dry.  It prefers partial shade or light sun. Primarily a foliage plant, Boxleaf Honeysuckle tolerates severe pruning which should be carried out just after winter or after flowering. Allow 50 to 70 cm (19.7 to 27.6 in) of space between plants for hedge planting. This shrub is resistant to air pollution and also tolerates moderate drought once established. It is perfect for low hedges, large borders, or beautiful plant sculptures, trimmed into balls or pyramid shapes, both in the ground and in pots. This Boxleaf Honeysuckle can also be left to grow freely in woodland areas.