| Jasminum multipartitum | ||
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| This plant was listed by us and sold under the name Jasminum learatii ( I told you I wasn’t a trained botanist!), but mistakes are very easy to make and this is a big one I made. It is a very interesting, tough, easy to grow and attractive plant and is equally at home in a mild position in a protected city garden as it is under glass. The leaves are very reminiscent of small Privet hedges and very deep green and stiff and held closely to the stems on short leaf petioles. The plant itself is an arching shrub and ideal to be grown against a wall. The big fuss about this plant is twofold; firstly the size of the flowers which are about 3 inches/7.5cm in diameter and have a most attractive yellow pin eye at the centre. The scent is also delicious and lighter than the sambac tribe but no less powerful but just different notes but still unmistakably Jasmine. Secondly the plant is capable of more than a cursory freeze of a few degrees. In the winter of 2004 a batch of the true J. leratii and J.multipartitum were mistakenly left out in November /early December at our Devon nursery. They were subjected to a series of hard frosts down to about minus 5c. The result was that Jasminum multipartitum had burnt foliage on the extremities but continued to hold its leaves whereas Jasminum leratii which is similar in appearance was killed back by two thirds and did not recover until the following midsummer. I am aware that a prolonged freeze below -5c/-6c will ‘blow’ the stems and tissue apart and that then the only chance is regeneration from below ground level. This however takes time to repair and is at the cost of that years flowering and is highly unsatisfactory. There are a myriad of towns and microclimates across various regions of Europe where -5c is almost unthinkable and especially against a protected wall and in such a position this plant would be very impressive. Flowering is midsummer onwards and cultivation is very easy. In hotter regions all Jasmines are best grown under filtered light so some intensity of the sun is removed by a shade material. This is especially pertinent under glass where shade is essential to prevent yellowing and scorching and to produce lush deep green foliage and even growth. |