In an attempt to build a fragrant little patio garden, I've planted a variety of plants that say they're jasmines of some ilk.

I've got a confederate something (sans flag) & a sambac something & a night-blooming jasmine I understand is also not a jasmine.

What should I look for to fill in a couple of small garden spots with the prettiest & nicest smelling flowers? Are there actual jasmines?

Jasmines ... I think this is fairly accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...

I have a Arabian Jasmine (according to the Home Depot label), scientific name, Jasminum sambac, that is amazingly fragrant. It's in an eight inch pot at the moment.

Julie, I have been raising different varieties of jasmine and other fragrant plants for years. In fact I started a new forum on Cubits.org you may want to visit. There is a thread on the Confederate Jasmine or as some people call it Star Jasmine. You may also like the other one called African Gardenia.
http://cubits.org/JBsPlants/fo...

There are many different Jasminum Sambac and they are wonderful plants for someone in your Zone. You can take a look at Top Tropicals website and they used to have a little booklet called Jasminum Sambac the Absolute Flower. Most of these have very heavy scents. http://www.TopTropicals.com

Hope this helps you in choosing your patio plants.

How difficult is Jasminum Sambac to propagate? And if you were to try when would you take the cutting? I have one that is over a year old and it has grown very well. Not many blooms last year but a wonderful scent. Thanks for any advice.

Which Jasminum Sambac do you have? That could make a difference.

JB, to be honest I have no idea, it was just labeled Sambac. I know it is vining quite a lot. I guess that's not much help.

If you can post a picture I may be able to help identify it. There are quite a few but some are easily ID.

How convenient that I found this thread. I have a large jasmine and this year for the first time, I've had it for about 4 years, it is covered with blooms and the scent is wonderful. I can smell it throughout the back of the house, it is planted next to a terrace in the back. This plant had maybe 2 blooms the first year, and zero to one the following years. We were actually standing in front of it with the shovel to cut it down this year when I noticed it was covered in buds. It's large and unwieldy and we've tried tying it up and back with minimal success. It occupies some prime real estate, some of the only full afternoon sun in my increasingly shady garden. It's very lucky that it picked this year to be so extravagantly wonderful, I'm thinking of standing in front of a couple of other poor performers with the shovel and threatening them.

Anyway, I decided to figure out what it is and see if I accidentally gave it what it wanted and perhaps I could learn to do better with it. After googling around I think it is Jasminum Sanbac perhaps Arabian Nights. If JB or someone can confirm or give me another idea, I'd love it. I have learned from my recent googles that it blooms on new wood so I will be more aggressive in pruning it from now on. It's kind of a beast, it grows long runners and they flop around without support.

I've taken some pictures that I hope will help. First off, here is the whole thing.


A dead flower, it does not drop spent flowers, they dry up and stay on the plant.


Buds, sometimes only one per branch but mostly they are multiples


Bloom, the blooms are doubles and they are 1 - 1½ inches across.


In trying to figure out what I've done differently this year I think that it has perhaps gotten more water. I kind of ignored it before, it never did much except grown those long runners and I wasn't encouraging those. It also is a magnet for aphids and other sucking insects and this year I was more religious about putting systemic pellets on it. The leaves are still a little weak looking, the veins are darker. I could give it some potassium and magnesium which is what I do for other plants with that look but I don't want to decrease the blooming. I did feed it last week, probably for the first time this year. That smell is so intoxicating that now I will do whatever it takes to keep this puppy blooming.

Now after reading some more descriptions, I'm thinking this is a Grand Duke and not Arabian Nights.

Jonna, Hi, I don't think it is the Grand Duke. The flowers on the Duke get flowers as big as 4-5 cm. Otherwise this certainly fits much of its discription. Do you have the little booklet from Top Tropicals called Jasminujm Sambac Absolute Flower . I got mine at www.TopTropicals.com. They have pictures of many of the Jasmin Sambac and in there they mention how difficult it is to figure out some of the plants growing.
The Duke I had looks like this and the plant looks like a bush with straight vertical branches and is very slow growing.


But, they are single flowers and large like gardenias. The Mysore Mulli could be it, but I never had one of those that lived, so I can not show you a picture. I have the Maid of Orleans now and that is like a weed.
I lost a big one this winter in the greenhouse because of the weather changes. I have the Star, which I am sure it is not, and the Maid has tiny flowers that turn white and they are small in comparison to the one you have.

This is the Maid, can you enlarge them and look at the flowers?





This is the Star or Royal (some growers call it Royal, others Star, it is basically the same plant) It is also called Confederate



I hope this helps. Wish I could come down and look at it. I could use some warmer weather.

Thanks JB. Yes, I was looking at the toptropicals site for most of my info. I don't think it is the Maid as the flowers don't drop off, they stay on and dry. However, you could be on to something and it is the Mysore Mulli. That would be great as it supposedly blooms all year. It is whether I should give it more water or not, that's a difference between them. I'm also remembering that this past year I dumped a lot of coffee grounds under it to discourage the ants from moving in and it may be that lowering the PH got it to bloom? I can't do anything about the amount of water in the summer, we get deluges, but I will start looking for another source for bulk coffee grounds. I will also prune it more when the blooming slows.

I was soooo close to ripping it out and now I love it. Funny.

There's a lesson in there, perhaps. Glad it's happy & blooming! I've planted every version of jasmine reported to grow here! I love that scent!

What are these red bugs and white like webs on back of confederate jasmine vines ? Please help!

@JB,

How did you get your jasmine to grow so healthy in second picture? What kind of fertilizer do you use?

They love the south deck and the sun most of the day. Plenty of water and seldom feed. When I do I use anything that is in the greenhouse and is open. Most of the time it is Miracle Gro for houseplants. I do use pellets but I do not know which kind it is...container is gone.

talking about plants that are not jasmines anyway ,,, my favorite fragrant plant is the orange jessamine,, Murraya paniculata

a beautiful evergreen that bloom several times a year with a haunting fragrance ,,vaguely related to citrus ,,

makes a great hedge in Florida, ,or an easy to grow houseplant that goes out into full sun for the summer here in CT

blooms almost year round

easy to grow from fresh seeds, but doesn't bloom for a few years

Beautiful. Would love to try it but just now the weather prohibits almost anything new being tried. My other jasmine are in the greenhouse and doing well considering.

You mean all these years my star Jasmine are confederates! Their fragrant is wonderful out by the front porch and literally the Jasmine order blows in the whole house. I over winter them every year and bandage up the pots in bubble wrap,and dry leaves and then snuggle them next to the house. Every spring they perform their magic!