Walton's Plant Library

Other Names:  Winter Jasmine, Downy Jasmine

Description:

A beautiful evergreen shrub with spreading stems that may twine on surrounding plants for support; incredible display of small, star-shaped flowers with a mild fragrance; may be allowed to climb, or trained as a shrub

Ornamental Features

Star Jasmine is covered in stunning clusters of lightly-scented white star-shaped flowers held atop the branches from late fall to early spring, which emerge from distinctive dark red flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has attractive forest green evergreen foliage. The small oval pinnately compound leaves are highly ornamental and remain forest green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Star Jasmine is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen woody vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance woody vine, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Star Jasmine is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Star Jasmine will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years.

This woody vine does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This species is not originally from North America.

Star Jasmine makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.