There are a number of invasive honeysuckles, not just one type.....and most are considered invasive throughout the east coast. This is definitely a shrubby form, either Lonicera morrowii or L. maackii. Maackii or Amur honysuckle does produce smaller clusters of nearly pure white flowers that can age to a pale yellow. Tatarian honeysuckle has pink flowers.

Hmmm...yea I think you're right. I never realized Redbuds could have so many "trunks" and seem like a bush. The leaves do look exactly like a Mexican Redbud and the bark looks that way too. Thanks for your help.

Wow, thank you for all your suggestions. I'm thinking it must be a box or privet honeysuckle. My plan is to cut it down to about a foot (as someone indicated above). Over the years, as it grew, the owners just trimmed the side of the shrub so that it wouldn't block the path on the side of the house. So it just grew higher and higher and now has started leaning over the path. So now it's just an annoyance and gets beat up on by anyone walking down the path. Knowing what it is I can now get it healthy and healthy-looking again. Thank you again! Your efforts are much appreciated. flora uk: there are some red leaves on top that have fallen from a nearby japanese maple, but it's all just the honeysuckle in the photo.

opposite leaves, tapering to a sharp point, stems tending to have a redish tint to them. Larger bushes have a weeping habit, and old growth is very woody, rough bark. The ones just now growing here haven't had flowers yet, but the ones they so closely resemble have bright red berries and whitish to pinkish flowers I have spent so many years jerking and burning vine honeysuckle that I totally overlooked the bush varieties. And we also have a low scrubby bush that I have always heard called 'buckbrush' and never really wondered about its real name. It's barely knee-high and has tiny ovate leaves, red berries in the fall. But I think it's something else but stll can't find a match in my books. Funny how when you are surrounded by the same plants all your life you never stop to think about where they came from or if they are harming the natives. I never knew anything about japanese honeysuckle until about 15 years ago. Til then it was something I was pleased to see since it smelled so nice in the summer. After I began trying to thin it out of our woods here, I even had people stop and ask why I was doing that, since it was so good for rabbits and deer and was such a lovely vine. SOmetimes I wish I did not know the difference, because I am now aware that there's no way I will ever win this battle, not even on 5 acres.