Honeysuckle by May Morris

What Honeysuckle shows

When people look for a Honeysuckle William Morris pattern, they are usually discovering the work of his daughter, May Morris. Honeysuckle shows clusters of radiating honeysuckle blossoms growing along climbing woody branches. Long tubular petals fan outward in warm brown, coral, and soft tan tones, with small flared tips. Around these blooms, layers of oval leaves spread across the entire surface, leaving very little empty space.

The flowers form starburst shapes that repeat across the field. Their warm reddish-brown and apricot tones create a clear focal point against the cool foliage. Twisting stems wind upward and sideways, tying the separate blossom clusters into a dense, continuous thicket. The leaves appear in two main tones: pale blue-grey leaves with thin dark veins in the front layer, and deeper grey-green leaves behind them. A pale cream ground shows through the openings in the vines, giving the foliage room to breathe.

Who designed it and when

May Morris designed Honeysuckle in 1883. She was the younger daughter of William Morris and Jane Morris, born at Red House in 1862. Although many buyers look for Honeysuckle alongside famous patterns like Strawberry Thief, this wallpaper was created directly by May. In 1885, two years after creating Honeysuckle, she became the director of the embroidery department at Morris & Co. at age 23. Her designs produced for the firm were frequently misattributed to her father. You can learn more about his career in our guide to William Morris. May was also an accomplished embroiderer, jeweller, editor, and teacher who later founded the Women’s Guild of Arts in 1907.

How it was made and used

Honeysuckle was designed as a wallpaper for Morris & Co. in 1883. The firm sold it for decorating interior walls in Victorian homes, bringing natural English hedgerow plants into living rooms and hallways. The repeating woodblock layout allowed the climbing stems and honeysuckle flowers to join seamlessly across full walls. In our pattern library, you can explore every William Morris design alongside work by other designers from the firm. The original wallpaper scan in our library comes from the Cooper Hewitt museum collection, preserved under a CC0 public domain license.

Colourways

On this site, Honeysuckle is available in one colourway called Brown on Ivory. This name is our site’s own label taken from the surviving museum scan, rather than a historical Morris & Co. shade name. The palette sets warm terracotta, apricot, and brown petals against cool slate-grey and pale blue leaves. Thin dark outlines define each leaf edge and stem. The light ivory ground provides a crisp background that highlights the contrast between the warm flower heads and the cool foliage.

Honeysuckle as a print

You can order Honeysuckle as a wall print printed and shipped by ArtsyWall in three formats: Archival Paper, Premium Canvas, and Framed Canvas. The Archival Paper print uses heavyweight 340gsm cotton rag paper with a textured watercolor feel. Premium Canvas prints are stretched over solid wood bars and feature acid-free archival canvas. Framed Canvas comes ready to hang in a wood floating frame, with finish options including black, white, gold, silver, walnut, and oak. When framed, Honeysuckle reads as a bold botanical study, where the curving brown stems and delicate blue-grey leaves create a rhythmic, natural accent on your wall.