Down, but not out

Last month I posted about one non-hardy plant that I had forgotten about and left out through a couple of freezes: my jasmine. My fix in that post was to prune the plant hard and hope that it would send out new growth. For the past several weeks I've been thinking that I took the wrong approach:

I certainly managed to turn it into a pot full of sharp, leg-poking branches.

***

Instead of sprouting new growth after pruning, it seems the plant was content to just let all of its branches die.

I had already resigned myself to the fact that if I wanted jasmine on the deck again this year, I'd have to buy a new plant.

But then a few days ago I noticed something different:

The plant was still alive, and pushing out new growth from the base of the plant!

This is going to be a little tricky, as I want the new growth to survive, but I don't want the plant to produce too much new greenery. Since it's not getting nearly enough light inside, I'd like it to hold off on its major growth spurt until spring, when I can put the plant outside in the sunlight.

So I'll give it some water, but not too much, and I won't fertilize yet. Hopefully I'll baby it through the winter, and come June I'll have this plant's wonderful fragrance greeting me on the deck again each morning.

(This discovery made me feel good, as I hate when plants die due to my mistakes.)