So it's already June and still light at 8:20 PM when the sun sets.  Sunrise is 5:24 AM.   The white Spirea has all faded as has the dogwood bracts.   Forsythia are long gone and desperately need to be pruned.  Mom's old climbing rose is in blossom and so is the black locust tree.   The invasive blackberry brambles have white flowers, and the golden raspberries are getting ready to bear fruit.   The lily of the valley was quick to fade from their intoxicating fragrance and now the honeysuckle have taken over the perfume counter in the landscape.  Shocked to see it wound all around the hedgerow.  This could be serious.  The fragrance reminds me of my Grandmother.   I had to pick a bouquet.    Amazing how the scent of a flower can transport you back into time and associate your memories to a loved one from your past or a lazy summer day in nature.  

And tonight I want to write about the Japanese Honeysuckle plant.   Did you ever notice or wonder why there are different colors on one vine?   When the honeysuckle flowers are white, it is their first day blooming.   The next day they begin to turn light yellow, and by the third day they are darker yellow.  Insects prefer colors rather than white flowers.   And with honeysuckle, there is an indication that inside the yellow flowers there's nectar in it's corolla (nectar tube), and it immediately needs pollination to occur.  

So as you study Phenology, stop and observe if bees and butterflies are landing on the yellowing honeysuckle flowers or the white.

And remember, any plant that has a name starting with a foreign country, don't plant it in your garden.  Now's a good time to find the Japanese honeysuckle vines and get them out of your shrubs that have stopped blooming.  You can see the invasive honeysuckle clearly by those sweet delicious flowers dancing all over your stately shrubs. How many of you were taught to pick a flower and suck on some sweet nectar as a child?   

Remove the entire flower, including the little green bud where the flower connects to the stem.

Carefully pull on the end of the flower. A white "string" should show up, connected to the calyx. This white "string" is the style, part of the female half of the flower. Continue to slowly pull the style down the center of the flower.  Luckily, the style has a little green plunger on the end of it (called the stigma) that just barely fits into the tube shaped flower, forcing all the nectar to pool in a little drop at the back end. 

Bring it to your lips, and enjoy!