This vine does best in cool coastal full or half day sun or in light shade with regular to occasional watering. It is seaside tolerant and cold hardy to about 15° F. This is a very attractive vine with a much softer appearance than the more commonly used Lonicera japonica 'Halliana'.

Lonicera confusa grows wild in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces of China, as well as in Nepal and Vietnam. The name for the genus honors Adam Lonicer, a 16th century German mathematician, physician and botanist and the specific epithet means "disordered" or "confused" and perhaps references the name for the plant as some (such as in the Kew database) consider this species to be a synonym of L. japonica while many others considered the two species to be distinct and it certainly is quite different from the only Lonicera japonica we see in the nursery trade, which is the variety a href="plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=1013" target="_blank">Lonicera japonica 'Halliana'.

Our thanks to Landscape Architect Sydney Baumgartner for introducing us to this nice plant in the late 1980s - we have grown it on and off at the nursery since 1991 and we also grow the large Giant Burmese Honeysuckle Lonicera hildebrandiana. 

The information about Lonicera confusa displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.