Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Star Jasmine

Star Jasmine (Jasminum multiflorum), also known as Confederate Jasmine, is another plant that seems to like it here on the Gulf-coast. This perennial vine has lovely green foliage all year round, and is covered in snowy white flowers in the spring. Here's a picture of how mine looked during its last blooming season.


It is relatively low-maintenance, assuming you don't plant it someplace where you'll have to trim it back all the time. During the summer and fall growing season, it grows very rapidly. I have one that was planted underneath some trees, before I moved into my house, and I have to frequently trim it back to keep it from climbing into them. Star Jasmine can also work as a rambling groundcover, if you have a large enough space for it.

Here, it blooms in the spring. In the milder climate of my native Southern California, the star jasmine blooms into summer.

The only other difficulty I have had with mine is the occasional bit of powdery mildew, when the humidity starts to go back up toward the end of Spring.

I find, however that this is relatively easy to cope with, using an organic fungicide spray.

5 comments:

Wayne Stratz said...

stumbled here searching Urbana???? I am reading this thinking "invasive." I think I rule out too many plants, or not. Not sure but you gave me something to think about. does it smell good?

Christina said...

The blossoms smell very good and are quite pretty. I don't know that I would categorize it as invasive. It does not seem to reproduce itself very readily on its own here. It does grow very fast in the warm rainy summer months here in southeast Texas. The only reason I have trouble with my star jasmine is that it is planted in a space that is really too small for it. It tends to grow up into my trees. I have seen it used in mass plantings in public landscapes in many parts of California.

If you plant it someplace where it has room to spread around, and no other plants to overgrow, it is actually a very pretty, low-maintenance plant.

Christina said...

Wayne,

To find out whether a plant is invasive in your region, see some of the links in this post:

http://transplanted-californian.blogspot.com/2007/07/noxious-weeds-and-invasive-plants.html

Anonymous said...

i am interested in this plant. i am searching for something low maintenance, grows well in deep shade, and i, a novice gardener, can keep alive. where can i order it?

Christina said...

You may want to double check on the light requirement for this plant. I'm not sure how happy it will be in deep shade.

I would start with local nurseries before ordering. It is a pretty common landscape plant in many regions.