Forgotten, the first

In all of my recent preparations for the arriving cold weather -- moving plants into the greenhouse and garage, covering plants with plastic, saving divisions and cuttings -- I've somehow managed to forget a couple of plants. Yesterday I looked up at the deck stairs as I walked past and among the pots of now-dead annuals this one jumped out as if it were spotlighted:

My jasmine! It's definitely not cold-hardy, and I thought it was unable to take temperatures below freezing.

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This is what it looked like earlier this summer, fresh, verdant, and blooming:

This is what it looks like now, after spending several sub-freezing nights outdoors:

I'm actually surprised it looks this good right now.

After my initial shock of realizing I had forgotten to bring it inside, I realized I was also a little bit relieved. You see, I have a few larger plants that don't go dormant and I have to bring into the basement and keep alive under lights. This is one of them.

Small plants, such as the cuttings and grass divisions I've taken recently, are no problem. These bigger plants are more of a challenge as I can't put them on the table directly under the lights -- they have to survive on the floor nearby.

This one barely stays alive for those three or four indoor months, and the thought of not having to deal with it this year was uplifting for a moment... until my "don't let innocent plants die" instinct kicked in. Is it possible this plant would survive?

A quick pruning showed that the plant appeared to be alive still (green is good!), so I decided to prune it back hard, removing all of the dead foliage:

It will now come inside where I'll water and care for it, looking for signs of new growth. I'm hopeful, and if this works, will give me a new strategy for overwintering this plant with less hassle next year.

What I'm wondering now is if this plant could be left dormant in the garage as bare branches all winter, and then revived in the spring. I'm also wondering if I should have pruned it back even further. There's always next year to find out.


If you're familiar with jasmine, please let me know if this plant can be kept in a dormant state!