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How To Care For The Sweet Pink Jasmine Everybody Loves

ByNell Foster Published on

If a plant had a TV show this would be it: “Everybody Loves Jasmine”. Everybody but me and a handful of my fellow gardeners that is. The object of Pink Jasmine’s, aka Jasminum polyanthum, adoration is the sweet-smelling flowers which appear here in winter/early spring and completely cover the plant en masse.

Pink Jasmine vine atached to a tree

This is a very common vine and can be seen on trellis’ (which they fast outgrow), walls, arbors and chain link fences along with growing up into trees and phone poles.  It gets to 25′.  You get the picture.

NOTE: I’ve since done an updated & more detailed post on Pink Jasmine care which you’ll find helpful.

As you can see, the jasmine has left the fence & is twining up through the magnolia.

Pink Jasmine growing untrained as a shrub surrounded by calla lilies not in flower

Here is that very jasmine which the gardener cut all the way down to a low mound. Good shrub, now behave. This falls under the category: think before you plant!

Big cluster of fully opened pink jasmine blooms, there are so many flowers you can't see the foliage underneath
This is what makes Jasmine a crowd pleaser – the abundance of starry white blooms in clusters.  They cover the plant & you can’t even see the foliage.

Why am I doing this post if I don’t like the plant you ask?  Although the flowers are way too strongly scented for me and it grabs onto anything it can making it pesky in my eyes, Jasmine remains a very popular landscaping plant. It’s sold everywhere.

I just saw it at our local Ace Hardware the other day on sale for $11.99 in 5 gallon pots. It was flowering and therefore selling like hotcakes. Nowadays, you can even buy one online.

Pink jasmine flower just starting to open up. You can see how pink and pretty the buds are before opening. They are bright pink and there are a lot of buds.

I was a professional gardener for many years and maintained a lot of this sweet-smelling Jasmine so I have some care tips to share with you.

This is the 1 thing I like about this jasmine – the pink flower buds. They’re lovely in bouquets & flower arrangements.

Here’s what you need to know about Jasmine:

* This is a very strong, dense-growing vine & can reach 25′.  It’s not a small scale plant. Give it room to grow.

* It’s a twining vine & needs some means of support & training.

* It is hardy to 10-15 degrees. That would be USDA Climate zone 8.

* Give it sun if you want it to flower.  Not hot scorching sun though, it’ll burn.  I’ve seen it growing in shade but it was very leggy with no flowers.  That equals no appeal. Part sun will do as long as it’s nice & bright.

* Water it regularly.  It can go drier once established but will appreciate & look better if deeply watered every 2 weeks.

* Jasmine starts to flower in winter here but if you are in a colder zone, it may not flower until spring.  Enjoy it while you can because it only puts out 1 big bloom a year.   Sometimes it puts out a very light bloom in Summer.  This plant is also very popular with butterflies & hummingbirds.  I know, I’m outnumbered all the way around. Even things with wings love it.

*  Keep in mind this plant grows very fast.  You’ll need to keep your pruners sharpened unless it can roam totally free where you plant it.

* As I said, it’s a dense growing vine & grows back on itself if there’s nothing for it to grab onto. In other words, it smothers itself & then needs to be cut all the way back.  It’s best to keep up with the trimming.

* It’s not fussy as too fertilizer & really doesn’t need it.  Applying organic compost once a year will make it happy.

Jasmine is also sold as a container plant. You just want to give it a big enough pot so it has room to grow. As a houseplant, it’s sold on rings when flowering. I’ve used it for weddings and parties but I have no experience with it as a houseplant. It would definitely need good, strong sun and regular water. It’s sold in hanging baskets which are fine for 1 season and then they need transplanting.

I’ve done an updated post on how to grow Pink Jasmine Vine with more info which you might useful. There are some new pics too!

New growth of a jasmine vine twining up a fence that was done specially for the jasmine to attach to it. The plant has no flowers and has a young green color
Here’s a close up of that new growth twining up.

Here’s the video about Pink Jasmine which was shot in my neighbor’s front yard:

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53 Comments

  1. I built an arbor as a valentine day present for my wife in 2015. She planted the white flowering Jasmine. We have not pruned it except to keep the walkway open and tendrils off the house. As you might expect, the growth on top of the arbor is a jumbled mass about 2 feet tall, 8 feet long land 4 feet wide. It seems like a daunting task to prune it. Should we wait until fall to do a severe cutting back to a starting position?

  2. Hi Mike – The best time to prune a Pink Jasmine is right after it’s done flowering. You can do lighter prunings throughout the year. I’d do a selective pruning now through early fall & then do the big pruning after flowering. Nell

  3. Hi I’ve bought jasmine in the pot this summer . its grooving well in the pot outside . not sure what is my zone here in London Ontario Canada . I know that it is a tropical plant so I hope to make it survive in doors over winter . Any suggestions how to make it survive in doors.

  4. Hi Agi – Give it as much light as possible & back way off on the watering. And, don’t fertilize in the later fall through winter because the plant is resting. Nell

  5. Hi Agi – I bought a pot of Jasminum polyanthum today without any knowledge of its growing habits! I live in the west of Ireland. As the plant was among the outdoor plants in the garden centre I assumed it would survive our wet and windy climate. Temperature can go below zero on occasions in winter. What do you think are its chances of survival? I could find a nice south western facing wall for it….

  6. Hi Patricia – Jasmine polyanthum is cold hardy to 15-20 degrees F. I’m not sure if you’re referring to F or C but you can convert for that answer. I have experience with growing it successfully on the coast of California & now here in Tucson. I’ve been to western Ireland & those places are drier. Although this jasmine likes regular water, it may be too much. A south facing wall would help but this plant likes excellent drainage & I’m not sure what your soil is like. Hope that helps, Nell (got your comment about Agi!)

  7. Thank you for posting such wonderful info on pink jasmine! I wanted to get your advice on potting jasmine… We have a niche on our deck and were hoping to have the pink jasmine in a large pot, using a 7′ obelisk trellis (15-1/4″ in diameter x 7′ H overall; approx. 6′ H installed). Do you think this is feasible? If so, wondering how BEST to initially attach to trellis (i.e. weave branches upwards, then in and out through trellis OR cascade branches from the top, then weave branches downward)?

    I’m so sorry if this is a silly question…I just wanted a better grasp of how to knowing how potentially long/high they get. Thank you!

  8. …to add to my previous question:

    We also have the option of using a 6.5′ tuteur shaped trellis(78″ H overall; 69″ H installed
    Top is 25-1/2″ dia.; base is 18″ square). The trellis looks a bit like an umbrella supported by a cone. In your opinion, which of the two trellis’ would be a better option for the pink jasmine (obelisk or tuteur)? Thanks again!

  9. Hi Amy – You’re welcome! Pink Jasmine is a strong grower & wants to reach 20-25′ tall. You can do it but it’ll need some training & will outgrow the pot at some point. I’d weave them upwards because I think ultimately they’d be easier to prune & thin out that way. Nell

  10. Hello again Amy – I think the tuteur would be better. It sounds like that 1 would give it more growing room; & that’s what you want. Nell

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