Plant Library

Other Names:  Waxflower, Bridal Wreath

Description:

This vigorous climber bears dark green leathery leaves to contrast clusters of pure white tubular blooms that are highly fragrant; largely used for wedding arrangements; grows best in sunny, tropical conditions or indoors

Ornamental Features

Madagascar Jasmine features showy clusters of fragrant white tubular flowers along the branches from early spring to late winter. It has attractive dark green foliage with light green veins. The glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Madagascar Jasmine is a multi-stemmed evergreen woody vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a high maintenance woody vine that will require regular care and upkeep, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Madagascar Jasmine is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Madagascar Jasmine will grow to be about 12 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This woody vine does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is not originally from North America.

Madagascar Jasmine makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.