Honeysuckle is a popular garden plant that has been hybridized into many colorful varieties, some of which have escaped into wooded park areas in Bellingham and Ferndale. But the Orange Honeysuckle is a native to the western foothills of the North Cascades and they grow somewhat commonly on the island in dry, open fir forests.
It is a climbing vine plant and in early June you will first notice the bright orange flowers poking out from its green foliage at 10 to 15 feet up on a Douglas fir tree. The bright orange color is very attractive to Rufus Hummingbirds who are the flower’s chief pollinator. The long, slender tube-like flower contains a sweet pool of nectar at the bottom which few other pollinators can reach.
My mother kept a garden variety honeysuckle on a trellis by our porch and I learned early on that if I patiently pulled one of the stamens out from the tubelike flower I would be rewarded with a small dab of sweet nectar for my tongue…Hummingbirds were my main competitors for that delicious treat.
As the flowers form, the leaves behind the blossom fuse together, forming a green cup-like structure that helps support and protect the vivid cluster of flowers on the ends of the slim vine.
By mid-July the orange flowers will have generated a huddle of striking orangish berries which are unpalatable by human standards.
Other common names include: Northwest Honeysuckle and Trumpet Honeysuckle.
This flower was photographed at the Otto Preserve on May 30th 2021
Dal Neitzel
