Cestrum nocturnum

A fast-growing semi-evergreen shrub prized for its intoxicating night-time fragrance. Its small, cream- green flowers are unassuming by day but at dusk release a heady scent that perfumes the garden. Perfect planted near terraces or open windows.

Night-blooming jasmine produces clusters of small tubular cream-white flowers from late spring through autumn in the Mediterranean, with strongest flushes in May–June and September–October. The flowers open at dusk and release an exceptionally powerful sweet fragrance that can travel 20–30 m on a still warm evening — best appreciated at distance, as the scent is overwhelming up close. Small white berries follow and are mildly toxic. The plant grows rapidly in warm weather, reaches 2–4 m tall and is hardy to -3°C; in colder microclimates it can be cut back by frost and regrows from the base.

Site Cestrum nocturnum carefully — close to a bedroom window, terrace or seating area, but at a distance of 5–10 m so the fragrance reaches you in waves rather than overpowering. The form is somewhat loose and rangy, best disciplined by light pruning in late winter and trained against a warm sunlit wall or strong fence as an informal screen. Pair with white-flowered Trachelospermum jasminoides for a layered fragrance garden, with Plumbago auriculata for blue accents, and with Lavandula and Salvia rosmarinus for daytime structure when Cestrum is in its quiet phase. Strongly attracts moths, bats and night-flying pollinators.