How to Landscape With Jasmine Plants

Common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is a frost-sensitive climbing vine that is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 to 10. The small flowers are pale pink or white and have an intoxicating scent. This climbing vine grows 20 to 30 feet tall with a spread of up to 15 feet with little or no pruning. With moderate or heavy pruning, jasmine can be trained into a compact hedge, shrub or container plant. Jasmine grows best in full sun or partial shade and well-draining, loamy soil. Jasmine will grow in full shade and produce beautiful foliage but will produce few flowers. Jasminum officinale is also called summer jasmine or poets jasmine.

String or wire

15- to 20-gallon container

Potting soil

Pruning shears

Half barrel

Plant jasmine at the base of a trellis or pergola near an outdoor living area. As the vine grows, attach the stalks to the trellis loosely with string or wire. When the flowers bloom in summer, the fragrant flowers will perfume the air.

Train a jasmine vine up a trellis near a doorway or entrance where the richly scented flowers can be enjoyed each time you pass by the area. If garden space is lacking near a doorway, place a half barrel near the base of a trellis and plant the jasmine in the container. As it grows, attach the branches to the trellis until it drapes over the doorway. Use a good-quality potting soil.

Create a scented hedge, shrub bed border or visual barrier with jasmine. Space the plants six to eight feet apart in a sunny location. Prune in the fall after the last flowers fade. Jasmine plants tolerate heavy pruning and can withstand the sever pruning required of hedge plants.

Plant jasmine as a specimen shrub in the landscape. Select a sunny area to encourage the best flowering. Prune to shape in the fall after the flowers fade. Train summer jasmine into a compact shrub 4 to 8 feet tall with yearly pruning.

Pot up a summer jasmine in a 15- to 20-gallon container in the fall. Grow it indoors on a sunny porch or in a large window in the winter. In the summer, place the pots outdoors on a patio or porch. Prune potted jasmine to compact shrubs about 4 feet tall.

There are several jasmine varieties that grow in tropical and subtropical climates. Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac) has delicate white flowers and a rich floral scent. This variety is hardy in zones 9 to 11. South African Jasmine (Jasminum angulare) has white flowers that lack scent, but the shrub is useful in coastal landscapes and is tolerant of salt air.

In cool climates winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) provides a suitable alternative to frost sensitive jasmine varieties. Winter jasmine flowers lack the rich scent of common or summer jasmine, but the plant is hardy in zones 6 to 10.