How To Care For The Sweet Pink Jasmine Everybody Loves

Here’s the video about Pink Jasmine which was shot in my neighbor’s front yard.

If a plant had a TV show this would be it: “Everybody Loves Jasmine”. Everybody but me and a handful of my fellow gardeners that is. The object of Pink Jasmine’s, aka Jasminum polyanthum, adoration is the sweet smelling flowers which appear here in Winter/early Spring and completely cover the plant en masse.

This is a very common vine and can be seen on trellis’ (which they fast outgrow),walls, arbors and chain links fences along with growing up into trees and phone poles. It gets to 25′. You get the picture.

This is what makes jasmine a crowd pleaser – the abundance of starry white blooms in clusters. They cover the plant & you can’t even see the foliage.

Why am I doing this post if I don’t like the plant you ask? Although the flowers are way too strongly scented for me and it grabs onto anything it can making it pesky in my eyes, Jasmine remains a very popular landscaping plant. It is sold everywhere .

I just saw it at our local Ace Hardware the other day on sale for $11.99 in 5 gallon pots. It was flowering and therefore selling like hotcakes. I was a professional gardener for many years and maintained a lot of this sweet smelling Jasmine so I have some care tips to share with you.

This is the 1 thing I like about this jasmine – the pink flower buds. They’re lovely in bouquets & flower arrangements.

Here’s what you need to know about Jasmine:

* This is a very strong, dense growing vine & can reach 25′. It’s not a small scale plant. Give it room to grow.

* It’s a twining vine & needs some means of support & training.

* It is hardy to 10-15 degrees. That would be USDA Climate zone 8.

* Give it sun if you want it to flower. Not hot scorching sun though, it’ll burn. I’ve seen it growing in shade but it was very leggy with no flowers. That equals no appeal. Part sun will do as long as it’s nice & bright.

* Water it regularly. It can go drier once established but will appreciate & look better if deeply watered every 2 weeks.

* Jasmine starts to flower in winter here but if you are in a colder zone, it may not flower until Spring. Enjoy it while you can because it only puts out 1 big bloom a year. Sometimes it puts out a very light bloom in Summer. This plant is also very popular with butterflies & hummingbirds. I know, I’m outnumbered all the way around. Even things with wings love it.

* Keep in mind this plant grows very fast. You’ll need to keep your pruners sharpened unless it can roam totally free where you plant it.

* As I said, it’s a dense growing vine & grows back on itself if there’s nothing for it to grab onto. In other words, it smothers itself & then needs to be cut all the way back. It’s best to keep up with the trimming.

* It’s not fussy as too fertilizer & really doesn’t need it. Applying organic compost once a year will make it happy.

Jasmine is also sold as a container plant. You just want to give it a big enough pot so it has room to grow. As a houseplant, it’s sold on rings when flowering. I’ve used it for weddings and parties but I have no experience with it as a houseplant. It would definitely need good, strong sun and regular water. It’s sold in hanging baskets which are fine for 1 season and then they need transplanting.

Here is a useful guide on  how to grow jasmine indoors!

Here’s a close up of that new growth twining up.

Happy Gardening!

Nell

Another vine to love Red Trumpet Vine