Don’t let these white and yellow flowers fool you, there is nothing pretty about Bush Honeysuckle. Right now, honeysuckle is riddled with flowers, then those flowers will be replaced with berries. These berries will be eaten by birds and the seed will spread and new bushes will form. The problem is, those berries do not provide nutritional value to birds and the invasive exotic plant spreads like crazy. In fact, honeysuckle is one of the most invasive and resilient exotic plants out there. Their prolific nature is out competing the native vegetation and habitat our Ohio ecology depends on. Help Ohio defend its native biodiversity by removing honeysuckle in areas you have control over.
Removing invasive species in flower prevents them from going to seed, timing this correctly makes your efforts more impactful. You could replace your honeysuckle with Serviceberry, this native tree offers a lot of flowers, Juniper is a native evergreen that can recreate the privacy benefit and American holly is a native that grows similar red berries. Whatever reason you are allowing it to grow in your yard, there is a native that can achieve the same benefit to you while also promoting Ohio native haboitat. Please consider eliminating this plant from your landscaping.