Our Honeysuckle

     It’s no wonder that June’s birth flower is the honeysuckle.  This is the month that it blooms in all its glory, scenting the garden with its sweet fragrance.  Its blossoms beckon the hummingbirds and bees and other nectar-loving creatures, and I am always filled with nostalgia as I gather baskets full of blossoms for house and church.  I associate the scent with my grandmother and childhood and summer vacations in Oysterville.
     Our honeysuckle twines around our pear tree and reaches thirty to forty feet up into its branches. Someone recently told me that the pear tree dates back to the 1870s and I think it was probably in the 1930s that my grandmother planted the honeysuckle.   Both continue to thrive.
      Worldwide, there are 180 different varieties of honeysuckle ranging from ground covers to bushes to vines.  Ours is Common Honeysuckle which is also called European Honeysuckle.  In Shakespeare’s time it was called woodbine.  Gardening books say it grows to thirty meters high.  Ours is that and more.
     Some varieties of honeysuckle have medicinal uses, especially for the relief of asthma and breathing difficulties or for “irritability or violent outbursts,” according to Wikipedia.  On the other hand, its small berries are said to be mildly poisonous.  It is also the wood of one honeysuckle variety that is used in catnip which to me makes perfect sense.  Heady, heavenly honeysuckle!  I love it!