PlantFiles: Pink Jasmine, Winter Jasmine
Jasminum polyanthum

I'm a little surprised about the negative about how it has brown flowers when other flowers are open. Here's a tip: Give it a good shake when the flowers become spent. As they stand out from the foliage, they'll mostly fall to the ground.

This is indeed a vigorous, fast growing vine. At my first house we had it on a wire trellis and it grew quite well. We kept it a bit on the dry side which seemed to keep it from getting too big, but it was easily trimmed back. Of course, the flowers are spectacular when it is in a blooming flush (usually winter and summer where we lived). It also looks good out of flower as well. I never had an issue with runners, although branches that touched the ground would root. Still, if you grow it in a moist place, watch it.

But like any vigorous vine, it is best to keep this plant away from shrubby plants. Its intent is to get where it can get up and out into the light and it will grab onto any shrub or tree nearby and cover it. I wouldn't give it a negative rating for that either. it's all about right plant in the right place.

Thanks for all the info, I was not sure on where to plant little guy and now I'm REALLY glad I didn't plant it my front yard.

I think it will however, be perfect along my backyard fence!!

Will update later on how it grows south facing in North Texas.

Hello, I bought this plant in a local Trader Joe store, and was thinking to underplant my 7' high fiddle leaf Ficus, that is growing indoors. My concern is for the long term wellbeing of the ficus tree. I don't want it to get suffocated by the Jasmine vine. Has anybody had any experience with this vine planted with larger indoor trees? Thanks

On moving into this house I found a mature one of these in the backyard with a full southern exposure. It hadn't been trimmed in years and was growing in a large 10'w x 4'h mound on the ground, looking more like a sprawling shrub than a vine. While the visible portion of the plant was still a quite healthy-looking green, the entire center portion was dried and dead, so I whacked the plant to the ground, half expecting it to die. That was around October. Then came the winter rains (which is all we get here in Spring valley), and by April the plant was nearly 7' tall, 3' or more around, and covered with perfectly pink buds and by the time October came 'round again the vine was draping beautifully over more than 12' of fence. Point being.. this in one resilient plant!

Because ours is a low-water use garden, and the roots zone of this plant is shaded and heavily mulched with compost, it gets watered just once a month, and during the summer only. That's been more than enough to keep it happy and evergreen. With this kind of regimen blooms are rare in summer, generally sparse until the weather starts to cool in the fall, and then bountiful from March through May/June.

If planted too close to other plants, plan to spend a lot of time 'directing' and trimming as the tendrils will reach out and grow around everything they touch. Be especially certain to plant it away from fragile plants, as you'll end up destroying them if you have to detangled them too many times!

Mi wife bought me this plant. I hope it does well here. 90 degree summers and 30 degree winters.

Wow, was surprised by all the peoples posts that don't like this plant or have had problems with it. I planted one on either side of a gate about 20 years ago and have not regretted it once and am unsure about the runner/seed problem. I have never even seen a seedpod on these, I assumed they were sterile. They are 2 very nice evergreen vines that bloom once a year here, April/May, and it is a time that we all look forward to immensely. You can find us AND the neighbors outside just breathing in the fragrance. We tease each other about it, how it is so addictive. I occasionally will get a long vine that missed climbing the trellis and will be laying along the ground and once I found one about 15 feet long that was behind other plants, but it had not sent down any roots nor had it climbed any of the plants it was behind, just grew on the surface along the fence line until I discovered it and cut it back.
The spent flowers do look ugly but I think it is because the sheer number of flowers that are blooming on this and then dying off at the same time makes it so much more obvious when the show is over.
I personally would never want to be without this plant, my only regret is that it only blooms once a year. I love it so much I planted 2 more on the legs of my arbor a couple years ago and can't wait for it to be covered so I will have yet another spot to just sit and breath the fragrance. :)

Fragrance divine! My two pink jasmine plants are in large containers and grow up and over my fence -- showers of bowers. The earliest they have bloomed is January. This year (2010) - they started blooming in March, and will likely continue on through May. Though fairly low maintenance plants, they aren't drought tolerant. I water them a few times a week during the long, dry and sunny Mountain View, California, summers. Were they not in containers, watering requirements would likely be lessened. I feed them a few times a year. I had some white ("Star") jasmine, but gave them away, as I did not like their fragrance. It is interesting how different people perceive flower fragrances in different ways, or perhaps it is something unique to the DNA of the specific plants. My pink jasmine do not have an overwhelming scent; it is rather quite delicate. The plants flourish, but have never produced offshoots, nor have they seeded themselves anywhere.

This plant should be banned. For pots only! Do not under any circumstances plant in the ground. You'll regret it for the rest of your life. The house I bought 8 years ago in Woodland Hills, CA has a 40' x 3' x 6' high hedge of Hibiscus with this type of jasmine planted years ago between each Hibiscus - Just finished the annual 8 hour job of tearing down the Jasmine to the ground....which filled a full sized pick-up truck bed (mounded!) - What really makes it terrible is this plant puts out aggressive runners everywhere in addition to the fact it will strangle other plants in a way that would make a python proud. A couple sites on the internet state the ONLY way to stop this plant is to dig out all the dirt to a depth of 2" and replace with new dirt (by the way, when trimming, put pieces in your recycle bin, not in other dirt or compost or over the fence. Even a 2" piece can take root!) I've also seen posts this variety of Jasmine laughs at Roundup. This baby doesn't meander through other plants. It strangles them, tight, like no other vine. Forty years of gardening and never have I seen a faster growing or more aggressive plant. Next year it all gets dug out and new dirt brought in. Consider yourself warned....

This stuff reeks! I was sniffing it out in the gardening department of a local store on the Spring Equinox. The pots were clearly labeled "Jasminum polyanthum", so I'm sure I have the right plant. They were profusely covered with fresh whitish blossoms and pink buds, creating a beautiful-looking mass of pink, but...

I wouldn't describe the smell as "cat urine", but it was very potent and pretty bad! I suppose it's possible someone could like this stuff, though one should still worry about annoying the neighbors.

DO NOT BUY THIS PLANT WITHOUT SMELLING THE FLOWERS FOR YOURSELF FIRST!!!

Only my first year growing it, it's hardy enough and likes to scramble it's way up the fence. So far I've yet to see the full performance of this plant. It's appears to be a very fast grower

from what I've seen so far when it does produce flowers the scent is wonderful, and it creates a lovely atmosphere to a garden.

The strange thing I've notice about this plant is that it prefers to flower in the coolest nights, when the temperature is between 7-10C, above 10C and it generally doesn't flower!, but again I havent had this plant long so perhaps I need to see it grow a bit more before passing judgement.

For now I'm undecided so I'll put neutral but ill post my experience again in a year or so

This is rare vine in our part of world Lahore Pakistan. I have not seen it except in one nursery. It is is a clay pot of 14 inches and it did grow fast in milder months but in summer heat of over 40c+ it has its leaves burnt. I could not make it bloom in winter/spring. So hoping that it will recover and will bloom next year. I made a mistake of giving it full sun. It needs short days and long nights to bloom something not very common in our weather.

So far so good. We purchased two- one gallon plants in full bloom about six weeks ago. They are planted in a north facing courtyard on a trellis. They are in full-partial sun for about four hours a day. They are not blooming right now (April in Phoenix) but the leaves are green and healthy and there is a great deal of new growth. We water liberally once a week. I think the restricted sunlight might be the reason they are not blooming right now but we fear the summer sun here and decided to er on the side of not cooking them. I have spread a few runners out to collect more sun. We'll see how that goes

A note to the person conerned about the browning dead blooms. You have to slough off the dead blossoms. gently run your hand along the area with dead blooms. They fall right off and are generally replaced with new ones fairly quickly.

I LOVE the smell of this Jasmine and the leaves look pretty all year long.

My favorite Jasmine! This one climbs, has lovely leaves and blooms, and smells divine. We had to take out our huge bunch on a trellis, but still have some on the side yard. Hopefully, we can reintroduce this friendly plant to a trellis again when we are done with a building project. I also used to notice this plant growing next to a little fast-food place in Ojai. I wanted to make sure we got THIS kind of jasmine...and not the kind without the perfume. I think this jasmine is just amazing....a great character....charming and affectionately enduring.

In a zone 5b greenhouse, this plant has shown abundant vegetative growth, but no blooms in a year. Cuttings root easily under mist. Makes a nice textural contrast to other large-leaved tropical plants.

Took a cutting of this from a friend's monster plant and it rooted easily. I suggest planting this in a large pot instead of soil, as it can be very invasive.

I have since given away my potted pink jasmine as I just don't like the fragrance of the blossoms. I have four other jasmines with much fresher fragrances. The odor of the pink jasmine is just very cloying and smells a little bit like something spoiled. My husband actually complained of "cat urine" smell (we have no cats) and he stopped complaining when I got rid of the pink jasmine.

In my area, Confederate jasmine or Star Jasmine are better bets.

A winner in my zone 9b coastal garden, where it grows in full sun on a trellis. Its flush of flowers is heaviest in springtime but it continues flowering at a nice pace throughout the summer and fall. While it doesn't have the visual impact of many other vines, its evergreen nature, delicate flowers, and lovely scent more than make up for that.

During the winter, I let the rain water it, but in the summer and early fall it seems to enjoy a deep soaking every week or so. It has survived many light frosts and there is no problem with the blooms turning brown or with the plant being invasive. In fact, my main complaint about this plant is that it has taken several years to establish much of a presence. Overall, pink jasmine is very easy care, and I intend to plant a few more of them to provide winter interest and ensure plenty of scented flowers.

I bought two of these plants and set them out where they
got full summer sun. They did not make it through the summer because they couldn't take full sun in Tucson summers. The following year I bought four plants and placed
them in the shade of a four foot high retaining wall. They
have thrived there with just regular water[drip irrigation] and
no fertilizer. This spring they bloomed like crazy... apparently
they're happy having their roots protected from 10-12 hours
of the brutal summer sun in southern Arizona. These plants
have blooms with a wonder fragrance!!

I bought 5 plants in the spring of 2003 and planted them in my backyard to cover my fence. The following spring only 3 of them came back out after winter, but are still alive and doing well to date. They were covered in blooms when I bought them, but none have bloomed since. I feed and water them regularly. The foliage is very lush and healthy in appearance and the vines grow rapidly, but does anyone have any idea why my jasmine doesn't bloom?? The pretty flowers and that wonderful perfume fragrance are my primary attractions to this plant.

I have one that is 3 years old, about 6ft tall but has never bloomed. I fed it, water regularly. Wonder what that problem is! Txsdar

Bought a winter jasmine at Home Depot in Jan 2004 because I was seduced by the scent. Had it indoors in my apartment until May, where it did okay, but wasn't thrilled. Planted it outside in Puyallup in May and it sulked for months (looking nearly dead) before suddenly snapping out of it and putting on a growth spurt. I just kept watering and fertilizing like normal and apparently it made up its mind one day to be happy again. We've had some frosts (strong enough to kill the tender stuff) but it's still happy and green climbing up one of the posts on the porch. I would recommend keeping it in an area where it can be contained, as it seems to be a lively grower. It seems likely that it doesn't like being moved/transplanted.

Hi I am in the Chapman saddle area the w/valley in Scappoose Oregon. This plant loves it here! 1st year went just nuts. I brought it in over the cold times. This summer it got planted and I'm afraid for it. Will cover with hay to protect it..But wanted to chat with other "coasty" person that grows it near here. I actually have several varieties...Need heads up on the w/valley near coast side from others. Don't want to lose all 5 girls! Love these plants! They just love Oregon in the city...But here in the valley we get freak cold days.

I purchased Pink Jasmine polyanthum in May, 2004 in full bloom, in 6" pot with small (3ft) bamboo trellis. placed in full, west sun after first blooms stopped. On June 14, 2004 I see a few dead runners but there appears to be more buds forming.

I had to drop my protected Silverdale, WA garden from where I have had success with this plant. The first week of January we dipped to 20 degrees F for the first time in over 5 years (and were below freezing for over 72 consecutive hours). So far, my Jasminum polyanthum which I had been growing for 4 years or so, and was not home to protect, has not resprouted from the freeze. So, zone 9a might be its limit ...since in a severe year in zone 9a it may not survive, but it does make it most years.

I've enjoyed my pink jasmine. I picked up a more bush-like jasmine a few years ago thinking it would grow like a vine, and was quite disapointed. The pink, however, is growing in leaps and bounds, and is putting out blossoms as fast as it can.

I planted corsican mint (similar to baby's breath) at the base, to help keep the soil from drying out too quickly. It is growing nicely, and should fill out the pot by this time next year.

I inherited a monster size version of one of these when we moved into our current home. I'm a little ambivalent about it.

Pros: Fast growing, low care, somewhat drought tolerant when established, fragrant.
Cons: Fairly invasive and difficult to control. Spreads by runners and self seeds. I'm forever pulling it up out of the ground in my yard and down out of the trees and bushes. The smell is kind of overwhelming when the whole thing is in bloom.

I liked growing this plant, but it is too hardy and hard to remove if you decide to remove it. I like the way it smells, but the strong winds in San Francisco blow the smell away.

The flowers would probably not turn brown too quickly if the plant is not allowed to stay wet and or gets more direct sun to dry the flowers off. The other problem could be fungal. My flowers stayed white and did not turn brown. Only camilla gives me the problem of the flowers turning brown, but this can be controled by cultural. Don't let dead leaves lie around, don't let the plant get/stay wet.

Some people love the smell of this plant. I think it is so-so.

I had this vine in my yard for about 6 years. It grew quickly and was loaded with blooms in the early spring. But it looks fantastic for such a short time. Unfortunately, the open blooms when spent turn brown before the rest open and it ruins it! The old blooms stay on too long, all brown and ugly.