The Perfect Plant: Star Jasmine

This week: Star Jasmine, or Chinese Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

If you have a boring wall, especially if the rest of the garden is shedding its leaves and is starting to look impoverished, Star Jasmine is a most beautiful choice. It is evergreen and has a superb structure. It never threatens to take over your garden, and in summer has the most intense fragrance and can be grown in pots so can dominate a courtyard. It can grow up to eight metres, does best on a sheltered south facing position, but will survive even on a north facing wall and requires minimal pruning. It has a ‘bonsai’ like quality to it, where you can pay attention to every leaf and twisted tentacle. As the picture shows, it can even be grown on an outhouse wooden wall and still let the chocolate brown colours and the secure order of the woodpile come through.

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