Five evenly spaced petals open into small white stars, and the scent that drifts off them is pure jasmine, above evergreen leaves that hold all year on a vine reaching 16 feet. Indian jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) covers walls, ground or pots; give it sustained warmth and full sun, and it flowers from late spring right through summer.
Indian jasmine at a glance
Name
Trachelospermum jasminoides
Family
Apocynceae or dogbane
Type
climbing shrub
Height
16 feet (5 m)
Exposure
full sun
Soil
well-drained
Foliage
evergreen
Flowering
Summer
Here are the practices that will help you have beautiful blooming.
Different from Indian jasmine is winter jasmine, often used for growing indoors.
Planting Indian jasmine
Plant it beside a path or window for the scent
Indian jasmine is planted indifferently in fall or in spring.
Apart from these two periods, avoid at any cost days of high temperatures or of freezing cold.
Make the most of its smooth jasmine fragrance, and set it up near a passageway or a window. That way you’ll benefit from the plant with all your senses, not only the eyes!
Beyond the plain white-flowered form, nurseries offer star jasmines with yellow or pink-flushed flowers, variegated leaves and low, ground-covering habits. Pick according to where the vine will grow and whether you want flower or foliage colour.
Which Indian jasmine to choose
Variety
Flower colour
Foliage
Best use
Asiatic jasmine
Cream to buff-yellow, small
Smaller, darker leaves; dense
Hard-wearing ground cover and bank planting
‘Variegatum’
White
Green leaves edged cream, pink-flushed in cold weather
Brightening a shadier wall, or a container by a seat
‘Tricolor’
Cream, sparse
Green, cream and pink mottling
Low colour carpet or trailing over a pot edge
‘Minima’
Cream, rarely produced
Very small, close-set leaves
Flat ground cover under shrubs and along paths
Pruning and caring for Indian jasmine
The evergreen leafage keeps the display going all year
No pruning is formally required but an annual makeover at the end of winter will enhance blooming.
If you wish to balance the shape or reduce the size of your plant, do it at the end of winter or at the very beginning of spring.
Indian jasmine blooms most on fresh, new growth.
If you missed the end-of-winter or very-early-spring window, best forgo pruning for the year, or else you won’t have any flowers!
True jasmines (Jasminum species, Oleaceae) do not exude milky sap; it is look-alikes such as crape jasmine and frangipani, in the Apocynaceae, whose irritating white latex makes gloves worth wearing when pruning.
Take out the oldest and tangled stems at the base rather than shortening everything, so light reaches the centre of the vine.
Tie in the long new shoots while they are still soft and green, since they bend easily then; older stems stiffen as they mature and are harder to train without risking damage.
Problems when caring for Indian jasmine
Indian jasmine not blooming
Indian jasmine is a plant that requires warmth to bloom best. If temperatures aren’t high enough, the plant will seem to thrive but won’t reach the blooming stage.
This moderately hardy plant will lose its leaves when temperatures drop below 20°F (-5 to -7°C).
However, it will still sprout back from the stump in spring if the root area is well winterized.
The blooming, however, requires warm temperatures.
A consistent 65°F (20°C) at least is needed for several weeks to even trigger the blooming.
This makes the plant a late spring and summer bloomer.
If it’s too cold in your area, try moving your Indian Jasmine to a greenhouse or lean-in.
Another option is to plant it against a wall or fence that is facing towards the afternoon sun. The sun’s rays will reflect upon the vine.
This would mean facing South in the Northern hemisphere, and facing North in the Southern hemisphere.
An alternative is to block wind by growing a hedge nearby or setting up a privacy fence. Make sure there’s still lots of sun!
Scale insect – these insects have either hard or soft shells (cottony substance in the case of mealybugs). They’re found at leaf junctions and on the underside of leaves.
Red spider mite – tiny red arachnids that form colonies, draining sap from leaves, stems, and flower/leaf buds.
Indian jasmine diseases
Root rot is the most common disease. It’s directly related to lack of drainage.
For potted Indian jasmine, make sure the pot drains well. Add sand, clay pebbles or gravel to the potting soil mix.
If in the ground, check our page on how to make soil lighter. Heavy soil tends to promote root rot on Indian jasmine.
If you notice root rot taking hold of your Indian jasmine, quickly collect a few twigs to start cuttings.
It’s difficult to cure root rot in a diseased plant. It’s often too late to heal a plant when the disease is noticed.
Learn more about Indian jasmine
It covers walls, but also works as ground cover
Indian jasmine, native to Asia, earned its name due to the jasmine-like fragrance that emanates from its blooming.
Its inflorescence is very beautiful and its evergreen leafage lasts all year long. It is a relatively hardy climbing vine.
This beautiful climbing shrub is easy to care for and maintaining it is a breeze.
It is perfectly suited to covering a wall, but also makes for great ground cover or pot arrangement material.
Note that if you grow it in a pot it will stay small.
At the beginning, attach your Indian jasmine to a lattice because it has trouble starting off. Afterwards, it will wind around on its own.
Varieties of Indian jasmine
Named cultivars bring yellow flowers or variegated leaves
A few famous cultivars that are available for sale include:
‘Star of Toscane’, or ‘Selbra’: yellow flowers, partially drought tolerant
‘Sunlover’: a variety with variegated leaves
Indian jasmine names
Other names for Indian jasmine include the following:
Star jasmine – this is due to the shape of the flower, with its evenly-spaced five petals
Confederate jasmine – mostly a name used in the United States. The origin of this name probably comes from it growing exceedingly well in the American South-Eastern states. These were formerly dubbed the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
Written by Gaspard Lorthiois | Loves helping out, especially when it comes to growing things. Worked in herbal medicine, runs a farm, and dabbles in tech. Master's degree and engineer.
