Uses: Climbing, Privacy, Fragrance, Ornamental
Propagation: Seeds, Layering, Stem cuttings
Habit: Spreading, Climbing
Light: Full Sun, Part Shade
Flower Color: Red, Yellow
Blooms: Spring, Summer, Autumn
Carefree and long-lived ornamental vine that performs best in full sun but will tolerate part shade. Tubular flowers of mostly red, yellow and sometimes pink provide clouds of bloom and heavenly fragrance.

Honeysuckle is a lovely soft filler flower for any floral arrangement.

Buds

1 Roll a small ball of white paste into a cone and insert a moistened, hooked 30 gauge white wire.

2 Thin down the cone shape then bend it into a lazy "S" or "C" shape. 3 Mark 5 lines down the length of the bud with a sharp blade, for the unopened petals.

Stamens

1 Bend three white or cream silk stamens in half to form six. Pull one of the stamens so that it is a little longer than the others, for the pistil. Tape the stamens to a 30 gauge white wire using 1/2 width white florist tape.

2 Brush the shorter stamens with glue and dip in cream powder. Brush the longest stamen with glue and dip into willow green powder.

3 Curl the stamens slightly.

Flowers

1 Roll a small ball of white flower paste into a slim cone about 3cm (13 ")long. Hollow the cone and thin the edge until quite fine but not too wide.

2 With very fine sharp scissors, cut a wedge on either side to form one large and one thin petal. Trim the narrow petal to give a rounded end. Make three small cuts in the larger petal. Open out the four small petals and pinch the corners of each petal gently together to give a rounded shape. Curl the small petals back. Curl the narrow petal under.

3 Insert the wired stamens, pulling through until the taping almost disappears down the tube. Roll the base between the fingers to elongate. This will draw the stamens a little further down. Be careful that they do not go too far.

4 Allow to dry.

Leaves

1 Roll out some spruce green paste fairly thinly. Cut out leaves in various sizes using 2nd, 3rd and 4th smallest frangipani cutters.

2 Insert 28 gauge green wire.

3 Ball edges and vein with rose leaf veiner. Give a small twist for movement.

4 Allow to dry.

Coloring

Leaves

Dust with forest green/holly ivy mix. Dust edges with aubergine. Brush with half glaze.

 Buds

Dust base with forest green/holly ivy mix. Dust the rest of the bud with Victoria Plum making the tip darkest.

Flower

New Flower

Dust base with forest green/holly ivy mix. Dust the rest of the back with Victoria Plum/cornflower mix. Dust the throat with ivory.

Old Flower

Dust base with forest green/holly ivy mix. Dust the rest of the back with Victoria Plum/cornflour mix. Dust the throat with a mix of yellow/orange.

Wiring

Tape together with twig colored florist tape.

To form a long stem, tape two small leaves on to the end of a 20 gauge wire using half width tape. Add the leaves in pairs, graduating the sizes. When the stem is started sufficiently, add the buds and flowers in groups with a pair of leaves. Dust the main stem with a little plum dust. Bend the stem to shape.