Many-Flowered Chinese Jasmine Plants

Many-Flowered, Chinese Sweetly Scented Jasmine

If ever a plant had an immediately recognisable scent, it's jasmine: evocative of sultry evenings abroad on holiday and the best designer perfumes. You can grow Jasminum polyanthum at home, even if you don't have a garden! This tender perennial climber will flourish in a large pot and can be grown as a houseplant, on a porch or conservatory. For hardier jasmines that can stay outdoors all year, check out our full range.

The dark green, twining stems and divided leaves are covered with a mass of pink buds, opening to white, star-shaped tubular flowers. If kept indoors, it can start flowering as early as late winter. In cooler conservatory temperatures, blooms will appear from April-May.

Walking into a room with jasmine in full flower is a pleasurable assault on the senses, like walking through a veil of perfume: a treat for the eyes and nose!

Features

• Group: Climbers
• Colour: White petals with pink buds
• Height: 4m
• Scent: Strong, heady, heavy
• Flowering: April to May or February/March in an unheated conservatory
• Size: 2cm flowers
• Tender evergreen
• RHS Award of Garden Merit

Growing Chinese Scented Jasmine

Jasmine polyanthum won't thrive in temperatures below 10C and will barely tolerate 1-5C, being killed outright by frost. It's advised to grow it in a large container in rich, well-drained compost, feeding every fortnight. Keep it well watered during summer but reduce watering and stop feeding as light levels and temperatures drop, increasing again as the days lengthen.

When grown as a houseplant, it likes bright light but not direct sun. Don't leave it on cold windowsills behind curtains during the winter. In conservatories that get baking hot during summer, plants will appreciate some shade in the afternoon.

Jasmine polyanthum in your Garden

Jasmine's a great choice as a summer patio plant for a wellbeing and relaxation garden. "Studies show" that the scent of jasmine can relieve anxiety and can promote a good night's sleep.

Like the tropical look? Wheel container-grown jasmine trained on an obelisk out from the conservatory and sink the pot into your borders in a sheltered, sunny spot - in front of a south-facing wall is ideal. Combine it with large-leaved tender exotic favourites likes bananas (Musa, Ensete), Cannas, Chinese rice-paper plant (Tetrapanax rex) and the honey bush (Melianthus). The dark-green divided foliage will provide excellent contrast. Add pops of colour with Dahlias, Fuchsias, Pelargoniums and the foliage of Coleus and Begonia rex.

When used as a houseplant, although it can be used as a specimen, it will be much happier in groupings with plants that have similar needs, like Anthuriums and Bromeliads. Makes watering easier too!

Did You Know?

Be the envy of your friends by growing the designer floral scent! Jasmine essential oil is a key ingredient in the perfume industry's 'white floral' scents. Its heady fragrance provides one of the keynotes in Michael Kors Glam Jasmine, Elie Saab Le Parfum, Dior Pure Poison and Mugler Alien.

How to plant Jasminum polyanthum

Choose a pot 5cm (2 inches) bigger than the original. Remove the pot and loosen some of the outer roots to encourage new fibrous growth. Pot up using loam-based compost and add some slow-release general-purpose fertiliser. Water in thoroughly.

Add a framework of canes, an obelisk or trellis for the plant to climb up and secure to the container.

If not using slow-release fertiliser, add liquid tomato feed fortnightly while the plant is flowering, then switch to general-purpose fertiliser.

Pot size will determine the size your plant reaches. Jasmine likes to be pot-bound, so only repot when the container is full of roots and move up to a size 5cm (2 inches) wider. If you have a large conservatory specimen, the pot's going to need to be more than 50cm (20 inches) wide. Once the plant has reached full size, scrape off the top 2.5cm (1 inch) of soil every spring and replace it with fresh compost.

The twining stems will initially need to be loosely tied into their supports, then occasionally tidied up. Thin any overcrowded stems after the plant has finished flowering.