Re: Jasmines
Barry Garcia wrote:
>
> jansmithen@earthlink.net writes:
> >I'm preparing a lesson on jasmines for my Fanatic Gardeners at the LA
> >County Arboretum. And, although I've grown a couple of them, I find my
> >"hands-on" experience is very limited. So I turn to all of you. What
> >have you grown within the genus Jasminum? How did it perform for you?
> >Did you have to do a lot of pruning to keep it within bounds? Did it
> >always need regular watering, or did you find, as I did with Jasminum
> >polyanthum, that it became fairly drought tolerant after a few years?
Barry.
I tend toclass J polyanthum as a beautiful but pestilential weed. With
our mild winters here it never seems to stop growing and any shoot that
lays on the ground will root down in several places. A neighbour once
planted it on my boundry and I have ebeen trying to discourage it from
invading my garden ever since. I should say it is dixtinctly
drought-resistant, and able to take light frost after the first year. if
it does get its flowers frosted it soon produces a new crop.
A jasmine quite popular here and less rampant than this is J. azoricum.
This has large pure white sweetly-scented flowers in spring and summer.
it will climb if supported by netting or grow up into a tree. Light
pruning and shaping can be done in autumn, but is best left till after
frost in colder places. It will grow in sun or part-shade.
J officinale, is similar to polyanthum in foliage but a bit hardier and
much less rampant. The flowers are usually pure white, though there is
said to be a pink flowered form ("Affine"). I haven't had anything to do
with the plain sort, but there is a very pretty variegated variety
"Aureovariegatum" It apparently burns in sun, but my daughter-in-law who
had it from me as a present, is having success growing it up a tree in
light shade. I believe there is also one with silver variegations.
The only other Jasminum I know is one of the yellow-flowered group, J
mesnyi (primulinum) This is again more of a scrambler and forms a mass
of stems very good for covering old stumps, but it can be used on a
screen with supporting wires. I has typical divided jasmine foliage and
large (nearly 2") bright yellow flowers in spring. It seems bone hardy
and can even be made into a hedge, but alas, it hasn't an atom of scent.
> >Oh, and do you pronounce it Jas- meen- um, or Jas- men- um, and where
> >does the accent go, first of second syllable?
> >TIA ;-)
>
> I pronounce it jas-meen-um, with the accent on the middle syllable.
Well, I pronounce it jas-men-um with accent on the first syllable
I guess the jury is still out!!
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
