Winter jasmine in pot

Credit: Leo Michels

Winter jasmine flower

Credit: KHQ Flower Guide

Winter jasmine

Credit: Cultivar 413

Winter jasmine flowers

Credit: Bri Weldon

Jasminum polyanthum, a winter-flowering jasmine

Do you hate winter and its gray days? Are you looking forward to spring before Santa has even come? Did you know that there's a plant capable of transforming the dreary season into an explosion of color and fragrance? What's its name? Jasminum polyanthum, an Oleaceae straight from the mountains of China. Its white blossoms grace gardens and verandas from February onwards.

How to recognize Jasminum polyanthum?

Jasminum polyanthum is a woody shrub with a climbing habit. When fully grown, it reaches heights of six to nine meters and a similar wingspan. Thanks to its voluble stems, it quickly covers a trellis, pergola, wall or trunk.

Jasminum polyanthum decorates the garden all year round with its dark-green evergreen foliage. Its leathery leaves consist of five to seven oval, alternate leaflets. At the end of the rachis is a terminal leaflet.

But it's at the end of winter, when it blooms, that pink jasmine reveals all its beauty. Star-shaped flowers with a heady fragrance burst forth in panicles and in great numbers. A single inflorescence can bear up to 50 flowers! They have five white lobes with pale pink undersides. The flower buds are also pale pink.

The fruit appears after flowering. It's a black, globular berry containing the seeds.

Jasminum polyanthum is not a toxic plant, on the contrary. It is used in Chinese medicine to cure stomach aches, migraines and skin problems. However, this variety is not grown for perfumery. Jasminum officinale or jasminum grandiflorum are preferred. And Arabian Jasmine is favored by tea lovers.

Our maintenance tips

Jasminum polyanthum can be grown outdoors or in an unheated conservatory. Above 15°C, their flowers drop off.

Watering

Water when substrate surface is dry. Use non-calcareous water at room temperature. You can use rainwater, for example.

Your Pink jasmine appreciates surface humidity, but hates having its roots immersed in water. After watering, empty any stagnant water from the saucer or planter.

Spray

Jasminum polyanthum love humidity. Spray their foliage to increase humidity and combat pest invasion.

Repotting

In spring, transfer your Jasminum polyanthum to a larger pot, so that it can continue to grow.

Soak the root ball of your Pink jasmine until the air bubbles disappear.

Choose a pierced pot, preferably terracotta, and a support (stake, trellis, dome or tower) to which the plant can wrap itself. Jasminum polyanthum grow quickly. You can use a container two to four times larger than the previous one, especially if you're repotting after purchase.

Line the bottom with a bed of gravel or clay balls to optimize drainage. If you need to plant your stake, do so now.

Add a layer of substrate. Choose a rich, light mix, such as potting soil for Mediterranean plants or garden soil with sand.

Place your Pink jasmine in the center. Place the vines on the substrate. Fill with potting soil and press gently to remove air bubbles. Water for the first time to encourage rooting.

Fertilization

You can stimulate the growth of your plant during its growth phase, in spring and summer, with fertilizer.

Apply a liquid fertilizer for flowering plants to promote the appearance of flower buds.

Prune

Start by removing wilted flowers.

Then, using clean, sharp pruning shears, cut back dead branches.

You can shorten the others by ten to fifteen centimetres to control the plant's development.

Pinch

To encourage stem branching, pinch off the terminal buds.

Plantation

Once the last spring frosts have passed, you can plant.

Choose a location in partial shade and sheltered from the wind. Jasminum polyanthum are climbing plants. Set them up next to a wall, pergola or arbour, or provide them with a support to wrap around. Is your soil heavy and compact? It's best to loosen it before planting your Pink jasmine.

Soak the root ball while you dig a hole three times as big. Place pebbles or sand at the bottom for drainage, and compost or fertilizer for growth.

Plant your specimen in the center. The root ball should be three centimetres below the ground. Fill in with your garden soil.

Tamp gently to avoid damaging the roots, then water. You can mulch the soil to keep it cool and limit watering.

Cutting

With a clean, sharp tool, such as a pair of scissors, cut off a ten to fifteen centimetre portion of stem. Remove the leaves at the base to preserve only the top leaves.

Locate a limp branch at the base of the shrub. Incise it with a clean tool to encourage root growth. Bury the branch in the ground. If necessary, use a hoop or stone to keep it buried. Tie the end of the stem to a stake to straighten it.

Once the marcotte has formed its roots, you can separate it from the mother plant.

Diseases / Threats

Aphids

Red spiders

Mealybugs

Information

Family	Oleaceae - Oleaceae
Type	Jasmine - Jasminum
Species	Pink Jasmine - Jasminum polyanthum
Lifecycle	Perennial
Foliage	Evergreen
Exposure	Half-shade
Substrat	Humus soil
Planting methods	Open ground In pots In tubs
Categories	Shrub Climber Interior Flowery
Tag	Flowery
Origin	East Asia
Hardiness (USDA)	10a
Leaf color
Flower colors
Fruit color