The Japanese Honeysuckle is a climbing vine that we have trained into bonsai tree form. It blooms in the spring and summer with fragrant creamy white flowers. It benefits from pruning and thinning. The cultivar name honors George Rogers Hall (1820-1899), an American medical doctor living in Japan who founded a garden in Yokohama.Trained as a Phoenix Graft. A Phoenix Graft is the name commonly given to bonsai known as Tanuki. "Tanuki" is the Japanese word for "Badger." In traditional Japanese folklore, this animal is responsible for playing tricks on people, so when a Tanuki is involved, nothing is quite what it appears. A Tanuki bonsai is a living tree "grafting" to a section of deadwood, often from another species entirely. The effect can be impressive. Most Tanuki, in order to make use of a lifeless trunk, are styled in the driftwood style. Tanuki are also called "Phoenix Grafts" after the mythological Phoenix which arose from its own ashes