Have you smelled a delightful fragrance floating along roadways now? It is probably the honeysuckle’s white ruffled trumpet flowers ripening into pale yellow flowers full of sweet nectar. My son and I smell joy as we walk past blankets of honeysuckle on our way to his school every morning. These invasive vines drape and twist over foliage in the forested areas of our neighborhood and along major highways.

One day as I walked home from my son’s school, I saw a woman picking the honeysuckle flowers off the vines. My gardener’s curiosity gave me boldness. I crossed the street and talked to her. She had a soft mound of the delicate flowers inside her plastic grocery bag. She told me that she makes honeysuckle tea from the flowers by seeping a cup of the flowers in a quart of boiling water.

I did some research and discovered that honeysuckle tea has several medicinal uses. But the leaves of the honeysuckle vine can be poisonous if injested.

Have you tried honeysuckle tea?