Witch Hazel vs Blue Honeysuckle - TreeTime.ca

Witch Hazel vs Blue Honeysuckle

Lonicera caerulea

Hamamelis virginiana

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Blue Honeysuckle
Witch Hazel

Blue Honeysuckle (wild Haskap or Honeyberry) is a cold hardy shrub and native to most of Canada. The pale yellow to white flowers provide nectar and pollen for bumblebees and other pollinators. The edible berries resemble elongated blueberries. They have a sweet-tart flavour often described as a blend of blueberry, raspberry, and blackcurrant, though wild berries can vary in taste.

Compared to popular cultivated varieties, the berries of Blue Honeysuckle are typically smaller and more variable in shape and flavour. While some enjoy eating the berries fresh, they are more commonly used in baking and preserves. Blue Honeysuckle can be used in hedgerows, border plantings, and naturalized landscapes. It may also serve as a cross-pollination partner in haskap plantings or as a decoy planting to draw birds and wildlife away from more desirable fruit crops.

Blue Honeysuckle has limited self-pollination and produces better yields when planted with other haskap plants or varieties for cross-pollination. Wild populations have not been studied as extensively as cultivated varieties, and because these plants are grown from seed, bloom timing and cross-pollination compatibility may vary.

Witch Hazel is a deciduous shrub, or small tree, with a short trunk, bearing numerous spreading, crooked branches.

The seeds grow in a long, wooden pod with two to four seeds per pod. Upon ripening, the pods burst, firing the seeds up to 30km an hour.

The leaf and bark extract of Witch Hazel has been used as a remedy to common ailments such as inflammation, bruises and much more for many centuries.

Blue Honeysuckle Quick Facts

Witch Hazel Quick Facts

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Zone: 2a
Zone: 3a
Height: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Height: 6 m (20 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: wet
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: slow
Life span: medium
Life span: long
Growth form: upright to spreading
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: medium


Flowers: yellowish-white, funnel shaped
Bloom time: mid to late spring
Berries: oblong, dark purplish-blue, edible
Flavor: sweet-tart
Harvest: mid-summer
Seeds: seeds ejected to a distance of up to 30 ft
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, NU, PE
Native to: ON, QC, NS, NB, PE
Other Names: blue fly-honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle, haskap, honeyberry, mountain fly honeysuckle, sweetberry honeysuckle