Jasmine is grown for one thing above all: the scent it releases at dusk. Get the species, the spot and the pruning right, and a single plant will perfume a whole terrace from early summer until the first cold nights.
| Name | Jasminum officinale |
|---|---|
| Family | Oleaceae |
| Type | Climbing shrub |
| Height | 6 to 32 feet (2 to 10 m) |
| Exposure | Full sun to part sun |
| Soil | Ordinary, well drained |
| Foliage | Deciduous to semi-evergreen |
| Flowering | Early summer to early autumn |
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Nurseries sell four very different plants under the one word jasmine. Almost every disappointment – a plant that freezes, one that never smells of anything, one that refuses to flower – comes from confusing them.
Add the star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), which is no jasmine at all but an Apocynaceae. Evergreen, glossy-leaved and just as fragrant – hence the confusion.
Plant in spring, or in autumn where winters are mild, whenever the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged.
In a pot, the same plant becomes far more demanding:
Jasmine flowers on the previous year’s growth. Everything follows from that: prune straight after flowering, never in late winter, or you cut off the very wood that was about to bloom.
That last point is what keeps an old plant flowering instead of turning into a bare tangle with a few blooms on top.
A high-potash feed sold for tomatoes suits jasmine well, since potash favours flower buds where nitrogen favours leaf.
Stop feeding a potted jasmine by late summer or early autumn, rather than waiting for the last flowers to fade, so its new growth has time to harden before cold weather arrives.
Jasmine trained against a wall sits in a rain shadow and often stays dry after a shower.
Common jasmine drops some or all of its leaves in cold weather. This is normal, not a sign of trouble.
Water an overwintered potted jasmine only enough to stop the compost drying out completely, since cold wet roots rot far faster than thirsty ones.
Stand the pot on feet or bricks so the drainage holes never sit in winter rain.
Hold off feeding until new shoots appear in spring.
Jasmine perfumes the air most strongly in the evening, when its pollinating moths fly. Plant it where you will be at that hour:
At the far end of the garden, the same plant will be admired and never smelled.
A sheltered corner pools the perfume, while an open windy gap scatters it.
A wall that has stored the day’s sun releases its warmth at dusk, and jasmine planted against it gives up its scent more freely than one on a cool shaded side.
Under a window, tie the stems to wires held slightly off the wall so they do not work into the frame or under the tiles.
The historic method for capturing the scent, enfleurage, laid the flowers on odourless fat that slowly absorbed the fragrance. It has largely given way to solvent extraction, but it explains the price.
Jasmine flowers also have a long tradition as a calming infusion, and nineteenth-century herbalists such as François-Joseph Cazin recommended them for headaches. These are traditional uses rather than established remedies.
Don’t infuse anything sold as “star jasmine” without identifying it: the name covers both Jasminum nitidum (Oleaceae) and Trachelospermum jasminoides, an Apocynaceae whose milky latex can irritate skin and isn’t considered edible.
Common jasmine grows wild from the Caucasus through the Himalayan foothills to western China. It reached European gardens in the sixteenth century, and around Grasse it eventually became an industry of its own.
Common jasmine’s Himalayan and Caucasian upland origins help explain its dislike of sodden winter soil; it withstands moderate frost, though hard or prolonged cold can damage it, so free-draining ground matters most.
The epithet officinale marks it out as an old apothecary plant.
Around Grasse, the tender Spanish jasmine is traditionally grafted onto common jasmine roots, and a grafted plant is the sturdier buy if you want that heavier perfume outdoors.
If your jasmine grows well but hardly flowers, suspect two things before anything else: too much shade, and pruning at the wrong time of year. Between them they explain most disappointing plants, far more often than any deficiency in the soil.
It depends on the species. Common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) withstands about 5°F (-15°C) once established, and winter jasmine is hardier still. Spanish jasmine gives up at around 21°F (-6°C), and pink jasmine is a conservatory plant. In a pot, any of them is far more vulnerable, because the rootball freezes right through.
Summer jasmine flowers from early summer to early autumn, winter jasmine from late autumn to early spring. The perfume of summer jasmine peaks in the evening and the first hours of the night, when its pollinating moths are on the wing.
Three usual causes: not enough sun; pruning at the wrong time, since jasmine flowers on last year’s wood and a late-winter cut removes the flower buds; or a fertilizer too rich in nitrogen, which buys leaves at the price of blooms. A very young plant may simply need another season.
No. Jasminum nudiflorum is very nearly scentless. It is grown for flowering in midwinter on bare stems, not for perfume. For winter fragrance, look to wintersweet or sarcococca instead.
Whenever the top inch of compost is dry, generously enough that water runs from the drainage holes, and never leaving the pot standing in a saucer. A mulch on the surface of the compost makes a real difference in summer.
Just after flowering: early autumn for summer jasmine, spring for winter jasmine. Take out dead and crossing stems, shorten the year’s growth by about a third, and every three or four years cut two or three of the oldest stems to the base to renew the plant.
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Credits for images shared to Nature & Garden (all edits by Gaspard Lorthiois):
LifeCollectionPhotography/shutterstock
Cluster of Jasmine by Ken Bosma under © CC BY 2.0
Jasmine hedging by Laurence Simon under © CC BY 2.0
Jasmine close-up by peribanyez under © CC BY-SA 2.0
