Tecomaria capensis
The Cape Honeysuckle is a scrambling, evergreen shrub with multiple stems, growing to about 3m high and equally wide, occurring in bushveld and on forest margins along the coast from the southern Western Cape through to Kwazulu-Natal and into the Lowveld and escarpment of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The flowers appear in masses at the end of winter and are carried through till deep in the autumn months – some even flower year-round. The flowers come in yellow, orange or red varieties.
Cape Honeysuckles are hardy, fast growing and easy to maintain and is therefore a favourite indigenous garden feature that have been exported to other parts of the world too (where it can become invasive). We have two Cape Honeysuckle shrubs in our little garden – they’re excellent for creating a screen between us and the neighbours. The bark is used in traditional medicine to treat pain, fever, diarrhoea, bronchitis and sleeplessness. The flowers are a magnet to sunbirds and insects and its dense, scrambling nature means that it is often used as a nesting site by smaller birds. Wild animals and livestock will browse on the leaves.
DeWetsWild 
Dis ‘n pragtige plant Dries, dit kom ook hier by ons voor!
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Dit is wonderlik om te weet, Aletta – julle het sulke mooi suikerbekkies wat dit seker nog meer waardeer as ons mense!
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Dis beslis so😊
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O ja, hulle het ek al gesien! Maar gaats, nou lees ek dis goed vir slapeloosheid (as ek dit geweet het, het ek arms vol gepluk vir my man 😉). Dis mooi om die pragtige suikerbekkies te sien en ook die saadpeul – dankie vir die deel!
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Ek moet eintlik kyk of ek n resep kan kry van hoe n mens slapeloosheid hiermee behandel, want ek raak ook gereeld in die middel van die nag wakker en dan hardloop my kop oor allerhande goed wyl ek eintlik moet slaap
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What a delight these blossoms are! We have growing rampant in our garden despite the drought and need constant cutting back. Apart from the sunbirds, weavers are very partial to the flowers and nip them off at the base to get at the nectar.
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Is there a secret to cutting them back, Anne? One of the two bushes in our garden has now reached a very impressive size and is running out of space as it’ll soon block the garden gate, but I am so scared to prune it back and inadvertently killing it!
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Prune after flowering. Many of the gardens around here have pruned hedges of them and they still flower in their time.
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I am going to try that, thank you Anne
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What a beautiful, useful plant! Love the shot at the top with the bee and those with the birds.
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Thank you, Janet! We have two of these in our garden and the abundance of life they attract makes my heart sing!
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I know those flowers, I have traveled and seen them before. I even tasted the nectar of them. Thank you, D. 🙂
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They’re a popular plant in horticulture in many parts of the world now, H.J. – just a pity that they can also become invasive outside their natural range.
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Is hul ook so geurig soos hul mak maters? Oulik dat jy die saadpeul en saad ook ingesit het asook natuurlik die suikerbekkies.
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Ek sal nie se dat hulle heeltemal so geurig is as die “Engelse” honeysuckle nie, Ineke, maar dat hulle gewild is onder alles en nog wat wat van nektar hou is n voldonge feit!
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Sal goed glo van die lekker nektar vir alger wat dit drink.
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