Chinese Honeysuckle

I love this plant. I love it for many reasons, not least because it's so pretty in flower and when the berries come.

I love this particular instance of the plant for another reason.

When I moved into my own house for the very first time (when I separated from my husband 11 years ago) my mum brought a load of plants for the garden, including one of these. My friend Jaye loved it, so mum gave her one too. When I moved out of that house into my current home, I left all my plants behind (a long story...) and I really missed my Chinese honeysuckle.

It wasn't long after that Jaye moved up to Scarborough, to a rented flat without a garden. I took charge of her wonderful pots - full of things like hydrangeas and olive trees and a bay tree and ornamental bamboo - on the understanding that once she'd found somewhere with a garden I'd transport them there for her. Sadly that never happened - Jaye died last year from cancer.

So this year I was chuffed to bits when one of the 'weeds' in a hydrangea pot turned out to be a Chinese honeysuckle plant that had seeded itself from the one my mum gave Jaye a decade ago...