My jasmine! It's definitely not cold-hardy, and I thought it was unable to take temperatures below freezing.
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!
Hello ,
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The jasmine you have is - Jasminum Sambac Maid of orleans. It is indeed a wonderful plant to have. Such profusion of blooms ,little care and intoxicating fragrance. I felt sad to see this post since it felt like you lost a beautiful plant. but after reading in your other post about new growth in your jasmine plant,it felt very nice. please do update on how it did this year.
Regarding overwintering from my experience. After some light pruning (1/3 of the plant ),I bring it indoors 2 weeks after labor day. It is an everblooming tropical, but do not add fertilizer in the winter. Leave it as it is, give water once a week. It will become leggy. Once during march give a light pruning. In May I bring them outside and give a boost of fertilizer and they will start flourishing again. I hope this helps.
Have a nice day,
Malini.