Trachelospermum jasminoides

Gardens should be a sensory affair, and star jasmine delivers on every count. Its intoxicating perfume fills the garden through summer, and we love to plant it near fountains where the scent mingles with the sound of water.

Star jasmine (also called Confederate jasmine) is one of the most fragrant climbers of the Mediterranean garden, producing dense clusters of small white five-petalled pinwheel-shaped flowers in late spring through early summer — typically May to June, with a smaller autumn flush. The fragrance is intense and sweet, particularly strong at dusk, and capable of perfuming an entire garden. The dark glossy evergreen leaves take on bronze-purple tones in winter cold. Hardy to -8°C, drought-tolerant once established, the plant tolerates poor soils, alkaline conditions and partial shade better than many flowering climbers; it actually prefers cool roots and warmer flowering wood.

Star jasmine is a twining climber reaching 5–8 m, ideal for covering pergolas, walls, fences and arbours; it also works beautifully as a flowering ground cover on slopes when not given vertical support. Site near doorways, bedroom windows, terraces and outdoor dining where the spring fragrance can be enjoyed; combine with the night-fragrant Cestrum nocturnum for an evening-fragrance composition. The white flowers and dark glossy foliage work as elegant background for almost everything but particularly with the magenta of Bougainvillea, the deep blue of Plumbago auriculata, and the silver-grey of Lavandula and Olea europaea. In containers it makes an excellent screen for small terraces and balconies — train along wire frames or trellises.