Northwest Blooms · Shrubs
Lonicera ligustrina ‘Lemon Beauty’
Lemon Beauty Honeysuckle
- Family
- Caprifoliaceae
- Height
- 3 to 6 feet
- Width
- 3 to 6 feet
- Flower color
- Creamy-white
- Foliage color
- Variegated dark green with yellow edges
- Bloom time
- Late spring
- Light
- Full sun to partial shade
- Water
- Regular
- Maintenance
- Prune as needed to control size and shape
- Growing zone
- USDA Hardiness Zones 6 to 9
- Wildlife
- Berries can attract birds
About this plant
Lonicera ligustrina 'Lemon Beauty' produces tiny creamy white flowers in spring, nestled among the foliage and followed occasionally by translucent pale purple berries in late summer to autumn. Small, glossy oval leaves have rich green centers surrounded by broad lemon-yellow to creamy yellow margins, creating bright evergreen color throughout the year. Slender, arching branches form a dense, finely textured mound, while the variegation becomes especially luminous in brighter garden settings.
Derived from a honeysuckle species native from the Himalayas into China, 'Lemon Beauty' was selected for its colorful foliage and compact, spreading character. Its dense growth responds well to shaping, making it particularly useful for low hedges, edging, foundation plantings, groundcover, containers, and formal gardens, where its small leaves provide a boxwood-like texture and year-round definition.
Works well in
Sun Gardens · Containers · Borders · Bird Gardens
Companion plants
Thyme · Switch grasses · Catmint · Penstemons · Coreopsis · Blanket flower
Design tip
Use ‘Lemon Beauty’ where its yellow-edged foliage can brighten a planting throughout the year. Repeat it as a low informal hedge for continuity, or allow its mounding branches to spill over the edge of a container for a softer, less structured effect.
