Even in the cold and dreary winter time, a little splash of color in the garden can work wonders. The winter jasmine not only delights humans with its early blooms, but also animals.
The yellow winter jasmine can be planted in the right place and become a real eye-catcher in the cold season - especially when the bright yellow blossoms of the winter jasmine contrast with the white snow. You can plant the easy-care scrambler as a bed or pot dweller.
Winter jasmine: origin, properties and flowering time
Winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) originally comes from provinces in northwestern China, where it grows climbing and hanging on rocky slopes. In the 19th century he came to Europe. As a true jasmine, it belongs to the olive tree family (Oleaceae).
The winter jasmine is a spreading climber that, with a little help, can climb up to three meters in height thanks to its long shoots. It doesn't climb up on its own, but ideally needs a trellis and some human guidance to grow up.
The yellow winter jasmine flowers, as its name suggests, in a striking yellow color. As a deciduous plant, it sheds its leaves in autumn. The flowering period of the winter jasmine can then begin even before Christmas if the temperatures are mild. These flowers often remain until March or even April. This makes it one of the early bloomers of the year and can provide bees and other insects with a source of food early on while other plants are still dormant. Despite its lack of fragrance - a characteristic that is rather untypical for jasmine - the shrub attracts numerous insects with its strong color.
You won't find a winter jasmine in pink or white. These flower colors are a different species belonging to the genus Jasminum. Especially the white-flowered real jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is often equated with the winter jasmine because of itsBelonging to the real jasmines is also often sold under this name. A pink flowering variety is the Jasminum beesianum.
Planting winter jasmine: in pots and outdoors
If you are looking for a location for your winter jasmine, it should be sunny or slightly shady and somewhat sheltered from the weather so that the flowers or shoots do not suffer frost damage in the cool season. Even if shoot tips freeze, they usually drift again. The winter jasmine is particularly effective hanging, for example as a green wall, grown on trees or on scaffolding.
The winter jasmine can also be planted in tubs and easily placed on the balcony, but here too it prefers sunny and sheltered locations. In addition, you should wrap the pot with fleece or mats to protect it from frost damage. The pot should initially hold at least 10 liters and grow with the plant. This means that it has to be repotted occasionally up to a bucket size of 40 liters or more. The pot needs a drainage hole to drain excess water, and a drainage layer made of structural material such as pebbles, potsherds or expanded clay should be added to the bottom of the pot.
Jasmine has very low demands on its soil. However, it grows best on calcareous, nutrient-rich and humus-rich soil with loose, slightly moist soil in the alkaline to slightly acidic range. When planting in a pot, a loose, nutrient-rich soil with a suitable pH value is optimally used. A high-quality soil - such as our Plantura organic potting soil - can be used here, which prevents over-fertilization due to the slow release of nutrients and also ensures good frost hardiness and stable shoots thanks to its high potassium content. To prevent sagging, which inevitably occurs with any potting soil after a while, soil in buckets should be mixed with about 30% structure-stabilizing material such as expanded clay, lava split or pumice. Potting soil or mature compost can also support the growth of winter jasmine when planting outdoors.
Winter jasmine should ideally be planted in spring with enough space to form enough roots. If you want a high-growing winter jasmine, you have to attach it to a trellis.
The most important care measures for yellow winter jasmine
Winter jasmine usually thrives without any further action. But if you want to enjoy a well-tended and long-lasting shrub in your garden, there are a few simple tips that can be implemented without much effort.
Fertilize and water
As far as winter jasmine care is concerned, compost or potassium-rich fertilizer can be used in spring, because potassium increases frost hardness, stability and resistance to pests. Unfortunately, not all primarily organic fertilizers contain sufficient potassium - our animal-free Plantura organic flower fertilizer, however, has this specification. Supplementary fertilization makes sense especially with winter jasmine in the pot, as the supply of nutrients in the pot is limited.
An additional watering is usually not necessary for older plants. Young plants in the first year, on the other hand, should be watered until a powerful root system has developed. Due to its robust nature, winter jasmine is also well-armed against drought and heat. Nevertheless, he is happy about a location that has an evenly moist soil.
Pruning Winter Jasmine
It is best to cut the shrub after flowering, as only young shoots will bear new flowers next year and otherwise there would be an excess of old wood. If the plant does not want to spread uncontrollably in the garden, it is advisable to cut off branches that are too long and hanging on the ground. Otherwise they could set new roots. So pruning back Winter Jasmine is essential to maintain lush flowering and desired shape.
Propagating real winter jasmine
Thanks to its zest for growth, the winter jasmine can be easily propagated by cutting the plant or cutting it.
For offshoots, cut off an approx. 20 cm long young shoot in spring that has not yet bloomed. Remove all leaves except at the top and plant the cutting deep in a nutrient-poor, loose substrate such as our Plantura organic herb and seed compost. In this way, the shoot should overwinter in a frost-free but cool place. It can be transferred to a sufficiently moist location in May after root formation.
A little tip for better root formation: The cutting should be cut at the bottom before planting in the seed soil.
Long rods are used as a sinkerreferred to, which root themselves firmly in the ground. You can simply cut them out with their roots with a spade and replant them in a new location.
Is winter jasmine poisonous?
In contrast to the similar looking forsythia, the winter jasmine is not poisonous and is therefore safe to plant in a garden with children or pets. However, many other false jasmine species are extremely poisonous and are often confused with the true Jasminum plants. That's why it's always worth taking a close look at the botanical names of the plants when you buy them.
You can find out what other insect-friendly climbing plants you can plant in your garden in our dedicated article.