HOW TO GROW WINTER JASMINE

How to grow Winter Jasmine

The are few winter flowering plants available for northern European climates but the Winter Jasmine - Jasminum nudiflorum is one of the best. However unless given favorable growing conditions it can prove to be a rather weak and untidy specimen. This is because rather than the climbing plant that it is usually sold as, it is instead a loosely-structured, deciduous shrub.

How to grow Winter Jasmine

Native to northern China, it was first collected for Western science in 1844 by the well-known Scottish plant hunter Robert Fortune (1812 – 1880). It was subsequently named by English botanist John Lindley FRS (1799 – 1865) and published in the Journal of the Horticultural Society of London in 1846

Under favorable conditions you can expect the winter jasmine to achieve a height and width of approximately 3 metres. It has long, arching branches, with small, trifoliate leaves.

The solitary, bright yellow flowers are  2.5cm in width and appear on the naked green stems (hence the species name) from November to February.

The Winter Jasmine is as tough as old boots and will even tolerate cold, sunless, north walls. Be that as it may the blooms are easily damaged and so it is best cultivated as a wall shrub trained against a wall (preferably south facing) to provide extra warmth and shelter. However it also works well as a ground cover plant in amenity planting schemes.

You can grow Winter Jasmine in any ordinary, well-drained soil.

When grown as a wall shrub any long or untidy growths can be cut back after flowering. Ground cover specimens can be cut back down to within 10 cm of ground level also after flowering.

Jasminum nudiflorum received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1984.

For related articles click onto the following links:
HOW TO GROW WINTER JASMINE
JASMINUM BEESIANUM
JASMINUM NUDIFLORUM - The winter jasmine