Plant Care Guides / Outdoor & Coastal / Large shrubs and feature plants
Indigenous | Easy Care | Large shrubs and feature plants
The Cape honeysuckle is one of the toughest and most rewarding flowering shrubs you can plant on this coast. It is a fast-growing, scrambling, multi-stemmed shrub that can reach 2 to 3 m, covered almost year-round in clusters of tubular, trumpet-shaped flowers that the sunbirds go wild for.
Flower colours range from the classic bright orange to red, apricot and yellow, depending on the variety (Coccinea is red, Lutea is yellow). It handles wind, salt spray, coastal exposure, drought, poor soil and sandy conditions without complaint. Left to its own devices it will scramble and climb, but it clips willingly into a hedge, a screen or a neat formal shape. It is evergreen in our mild climate and flowers most heavily in autumn and winter, which is when the garden needs colour most.
2 to 3 m high and more than 2.5 m wide. Can be kept smaller with regular pruning or trained higher against a wall or fence.
Fast. It can put on a metre or more a year.
Hedge, screen, boundary, scrambler on a fence or wall, feature shrub, wildlife garden. One of the best plants for bringing sunbirds into the garden.
Full sun for the most flowers. It tolerates partial shade but flowers less.
Any soil, including sandy, clay and poor coastal sand. Enrich with compost at planting for the best results.
Drought-tolerant once established. Water weekly while young for lush growth. It survives long dry spells but flowers better with an occasional deep soak in summer.
Not demanding. A feed in spring with a balanced fertiliser encourages heavier flowering, but it performs well even without feeding.
Prune between flowering flushes to keep it in shape. It responds very well to hard pruning and will resprout vigorously. Without pruning it gets untidy and sprawling, which is fine in a wild garden but not in a formal bed. Trim it as a hedge two to three times a year.
Ask about availability. WhatsApp us to check what is currently in stock, or visit the nursery and we will help you choose the right plant for your spot.
