I just wanted to warn anyone who loves their lilacs: if you see honeysuckle anywhere near it (or anywhere, period!) RIP IT OUT OF THE GROUND!

My mother is from the South and loves honeysuckle, but doesn't believe that it has become such an invasive threat here. Believe it! This year, I have counted 8 generations-old lilacs in just my neighborhood that are now DEAD and covered with honeysuckle. They look like honeysuckle trees, with not a single leaf to identify that they were lilacs for the past many decades.

Every time I pass another lilac with honeysuckle creeping into it, I want to knock on the door and warn the owner that if they let that honeysuckle live, the lilac will be dead in something like 2 seasons. That is what I have seen: lilacs that just got started with honeysuckle infestations a year or two ago, are completely *dead*, not a single leaf, this year! That's how fast and aggressive this stuff is.

A graceful row of antique white lilacs in Augusta is now a row of dead trunks supporting a blanket of honeysuckle. But the big problem besides loss of lilacs is, once that dead wood starts rotting, the whole thing will collapse, and you will have a pile of dead and rotting wood under a blanket of honeysuckle looking for something else to strangle. And then you will have to start over with new landscaping. In many cases, the antique lilacs are hard to find replacements for, and the new varieties don't have the same scent.

And the lilacs that have bloomed for generations are gone forever.