Honeysuckle Flowers Have Changed Color

I replanted a red honeysuckle along my backyard fence. But when it bloomed the next season, the flowers were yellow? It’s been blooming yellow ever since.

The native red honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica) can be yellow to orange and usually turns redder as the flowers age. Many of the red varieties of non native honeysuckle are the results of hybridization. Whether naturally occurring or a hybrid, mutations can occur in plants resulting in a change of flower color. Breeders take advantage of these mutations to develop and introduce new flowers for the landscape. Sometimes these mutations happen in our garden and we end up with a different color plant than we purchased. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to make the flowers change back to red.