Winter Jasmine

Flowers that appear in winter – even the simplest – have a special charm. What are you doing here? How brave, to bloom on a cold winter’s day! Few plants bring us that sense of marvel at the endurance of life, as the Winter Jasmine does. The sparkling, bright yellow flowers may lack the scent of white jasmines, but they have a striking purity and charm that is sure to please. Originally from China, it perfectly captures the Eastern aesthetic of honest simplicity – Here I am! This is me! For the rest of the year it might be a quiet, green trailing plant, but the joy it brings in winter and just before spring begins is surely ample reason to grow this beauty in your garden. Versatile too, this trailing shrub can be grown up against your house, or on a garden trellis; spilling over a retaining wall; or sprawling freely as a groundcover in sun or shade. The fact that ‘winter’ and ‘jasmine’ sound like such an unlikely combination is all part of the charm.

Growing Winter Jasmine

Size and Appearance

Winter Jasmine is a sprawling deciduous shrub that grows to 10 or 15 feet tall if supported, or no more than 4 feet tall, and usually less, if left to grow across the ground. The young stems are smooth and green, with four flattened sides. Older stems are light beige-gray, with bumpy bark. Left alone this plant will form a dense, twiggy mound of stems, trailing on the ground or arching and spilling downwards. The leaves are small and divided into 3 leaflets on a short stalk. They are smooth and dark-green, with a slightly-glossy sheen. Each leaflet is between ½ and 1½ inches long, oval, with a smooth edge. The leaves turn yellow in fall, leaving the combination of green and beige stems exposed – they have a quiet beauty.

The flowers are carried singly on younger stems, anytime between November and February, opening in flushes during warm spells. In colder areas flowering may be concentrated in the last weeks of winter, before the first spring flowers appear. The flowers are large – a full inch across and 1-inch long, carried on a short stalk and sitting in a small, green, 5-pointed cup. The flowers are a long slim tube, topped by a flattened face of 5 rounded lobes. The color is a clear, bright yellow, sparkling bright in the golden winter sun and eye-catching from yards away. New leaves begin to unfurl as the last flowers are open.

Using Winter Jasmine in Your Garden

Winter Jasmine has two broad uses in our gardens. It is easily trained as a wall or trellis shrub, able to grow up to the second floor. It isn’t twining or self-supporting, so you do need to attach it or tie it in, spreading out the branches to cover the area you have in mind. Choose a wall that is sunny during winter, as this will encourage early flowering and give you the most flowers. It can also be tied up to a fence and then left to cover it. This plant is naturally a trailing and sprawling shrub, so if left to grow without support it makes a good ground cover, spreading out 10 feet or more in all directions, often rooting as it goes to cover an even larger area. It is perfect for covering slopes, and if you have retaining walls, plant it at the top and let it cascade downwards – a great solution to big blank spaces.

Hardiness

Winter Jasmine is hardy in all but the coldest areas, growing well in zone 6 and thriving in all the warmer parts of the country.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun, especially in winter, will give the most blooms on your Winter Jasmine, but it is perfectly happy in partial shade too. It even grows in deeper full shade, but flowering will be reduced. This tough plant grows in almost any kind of soil, as long as it isn’t wet. From clays to sandy soils – everything is acceptable, but obviously the growth will be more vigorous and spreading if planted in richer soils. Established plants are tough and drought-resistant.

Maintenance and Pruning

Generally free of pests and diseases, you can let the Winter Jasmine get on with things by itself, with very little attention. When trained on a wall it is a good idea to do some pruning once blooming is over. Prune out some older branches and shorten back long new shoots to keep it neater and within the area you have for it. If, after some years, it becomes overgrown, you can cut it back to a foot or two and let it all start again.

History and Origin of Winter Jasmine

The Winter Jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, is native to China, growing all through the western areas, from Tibet to the mountainous province of Shaanxi. It was first brought to the West in 1844 by Robert Fortune. He was a Scottish botanist and explorer who collected many of our older ornamental plants during his years in China. Winter Jasmine was part of a group of plants he collected while employed by the Royal Horticultural Society. The name ’nudiflorum’ means ‘naked flower’, referring to the blooms on leafless stems. It has been a popular plant since then, and it’s one of the classic heritage garden plants we still grow, enjoyed for as many years as shrubs like Lilac and Forsythia.

Buying Winter Jasmine at the Tree Center

Winter is such a dull season that it’s really important to add as much color and interest as possible to it. The Winter Jasmine may be a classic, but its annual blooms are always fresh and attract every new generation of gardeners. It is not as widely available as it once was, so order now while we still have plants available – it may be a while before we have them again.