I read that it blooms on the full moon. I don't know as my hasn't bloomed at all. It is as tall as me now 5' and looks very healthy. I read that it likes sun! It better hurry as they are not hardy for my area.

Mine blooms for three or four days every two to three weeks, in cycles. Last year I did not get any fragrance until August. This year it has been blooming off and on since May. It did not bloom until it was shoulder height. This plant reseeds freely and will return from the roots from a hard freeze in my area. In my last yard I had a plant grown approximately 16 feet in one growing season. I prune whenever necessary (about twice a year).

oh kewl! I've never heard of this one before. Is it a vine or a shrub?

I'm not in LA, but only 60mi from Shreveport in Texas. I grow night blooming jasimine and it is not about 5' tall. It finally bloomed on the last full moon, but the tiny flowers weren't very fragrant. I've been told that sometimes it takes time for the fragrance to develop. It is not hardy in my area, so will have to be brought in to the shed for winter.

I have one called either "Confederate" or "New orleans" jasmine. It is not a vine per se it scatters more than climbs, but does bloom at night with a true jasmine aroma. I do see them in nurseries, in fact I saw one at Walmart in Bogalusa last week. the other one I have climbs and is more fragrent, blooms more, but a shorter period and the fragrence is not as pleasant as the other. I'm not sure the one I saw at WM was called either name, but I have found that any plant can be called lots of things. Did I say too much and not give you any info?

Joeray,

If you are in N.O. Banting Garden Center on
the WestBank is were I got mine a few years
ago. Banting is at the foot of the Huey P.
Long Bridge. If they don't have it let me
know & when the weather cools down I'll send
you some.

Hope this helps
Honeybee

This is more shrub like, and no the moon does not play a part. Not like other jasmime, it is sweet in scent,but no visual aspects that would make your photo award!

Honeybee:
Thanks for the offer but as I said, I bought some seeds from J.L. Hudson Seedsman in California this spring and germinated quite a few plants. I now have seven, three in pots and four in the yard. They are about 3 feet tall (the ones in the pots are doing better than the ones planted in the yard.) but I've seen not sign of blooms yet. Possibly they won't get big enough to bloom this year. When do your's bloom? Also, do you have any planted out and if so, do they survive the winter freezes?

The cold kills mine back, but it comes back in the spring. The viny one doesn't die back. I don't think it will die easily ,which may be a drawback because it is very vigorous

Joeray,
Night blooming Jasmine is a perennial shrub that will come back from the ground after winter kill.Will stay green in mild winters.It puts out fragrance at sunset and is strongest at night.Will bloom from seed the same year.Size is not too important.I have forced them into bloom when only 1 foot tall.Use fertilizer high in Phosp.I like blooms plus which is 10-60-10.The night jasmine is coming into bloom this time of year.I would like to add that the seed pods are more showy than the flowers!

I checked my plants this afternoon and discovered that two of the potted plants had unopened blooms on them. I checked againg aroung 8 pm and discovered that the blooms had opened but without much fragrance. I read on the fragrant plant forum of a gardner whose plant bloomed at first with very little fragrance but a month or so later, the plant bloomed and the fragrance was intense. I'll hope mine are like that.

The Jasmine with the most fragrance is called "aztec" and is native to South America. You can order seeds from private growers. The scent is heavenly - not easy to gemminate - but once you do, it's hardy and likes lots of hot sun and blooms freely at night. I tried to germinate two packets this year and failed. I'm going to try again this winter under a grow light and keep them in pots (large) for the summer. I purchased a Jasmine bush that actually looks like a topiary that is approximately 4 ft. tall from my local nursery. I found that if I keep snipping off the spent flowers it continues to bloom and smells heavenly. It is a tropical and will need to come inside before the first frost (it's in a pot and will remain there) This is the star of my porch, doesn't like super hot sun (a little in the morning and a little in the afternoon) and gets watered every other day. Hope this helps!

I've tried planting the seeds right off the plant and none of those germinated. Should they be dried first?

A mature plant will produce blooms at night every 2-3 weeks during summer.

I just purchased one of these Night-Blooming Jasmine, and it says it'll grow 8-12' tall, and could be used as a "divider"... So for the last few days, I've been pondering just where to put it, to best benefit from not only the fragrance, but the white blooms, come nighttime.

The picture above... is that the extent of the blooms? I had thought (hoped) the flowers would be larger and somehow showier at night.

Also, is there a general idea of how big around this bush will get? Could anyone show me a picture of a complete bush? Maybe up next to something else, for size comparison?

Sure would be appreciated!

Kimberly

Kimberly, that's a pretty good shot of a night blooming jasmine plant. The flowers are not much to look at, the fragrance is the big thing. The plants are not great looking either, but not bad. My plants that I grew from seeds last year bloomed several times, but the fragrance was not that strong and I did not think it was one of the better fragrances I've smelled. Certainly not anything like Sweet Olive, which I think is outstanding. I was disappointed. I cut the plants down to the ground at the end of the season last year and they are re-sprouting now. I'll see what I think of them this year. They're easy to grow.

hi, Joeray. You should get knocked off your feet by the fragrance one of these hot nights if you have a biggish plant. I think the scent is much stronger when it is hottt and humiddd.

But no, it is not like sweet olive.

I read this thread and noticed several references to starting night jasmine from seed. I have grown plants over the last 5-6 years and always made cuttings (easy). But this year I noticed for the first time that seeds had developed on the plant. They are hard coated and WHITE! About the size of a large pea. Any ideas on how to germinate them? When are they ready to sow? Thanks!

Good God!................they grow like weeds here.
The smell is incredible............and they grow well in the shade.

I am from Acapulco, Mexico and my grandmother had them when she was alive. They can get very tall and the fragrance was incredible. I usually spent the nights gazing at the stars while smelling these flowers. I will try to grow them next year here in Chicago as an annual. The plant is kinda poisonous though, especially the seeds. Keep them away from pets, kids, and the occasional junkie as the unripe berries of this plant cause hallucinations but can also cause coma if eaten in large quantities, although birds love them. The plant contains glyco-alkaloids and atropine-like alkaloids.

Will the night blooming jasmine come back if planted in the ground? It freezes here and I have so many plants now that I have to bring in. (zone 8)
Thanks!

I just moved into a new house which had this poor spindly garden that hadn't been watered in forever and a day. After installing new sprinklers, I began to dig out the truly dead material and then noticed something about this one pile of what I thought were dead sticks. There was a tag left on the plant - Night Blooming Jasmine. I've always wanted this in my garden - you can smell it in some L.A. neighborhoods at night in the spring and summer and the mere thought brings back great memories.

So I left the sticks in the ground and watered and fed the "dead" bush. Lo and behold, it started to green up and in just the last two weeks alone has gone from a 1 foot high nearly dead bush to a 2 1/2 foot mass of beautiful foliage. That's some fast growing. I transplanted it to a better spot - right near the bedroom windows for some evening fragrance next spring (I hope) and to screen the new central air unit.

Great plant! Now I've got to continue to amend a half acre of massively clay soil ... Oh, my breaking back.

Late summer of '02, I started my Night Bloom Jasmine from seed when I was living in Zone 5. What I did was take a white (it was actually starting to turn a little brown), ripe berry from a friend's plant and opened it. Inside are several tiny black seeds that look like pepper flakes. I planted these directly in soil in a pot and a week or two later, a seedling appeared.

The little plant nearly died on me twice over it's first winter, from the cold and lack of sun (I believe). I brought the dying plant with me when I moved to California Zone 9 in Feb. and I had to cut it all the way down to the soil because the plant looked terrible. The plant soon started to revive and has now grown at least four feet tall and a couple of feet wide in 9 months!!

Until three to four weeks ago, the plant was growing in vegetative state and only one or two flower clusters had appeared since the end of summer. I didn't think it would fully bloom this year because I read somewhere that sometimes it doesn't bloom until the second or third year. In early November, little buds were starting to appear and I had to repot it because I was having to water the plant twice a day sometimes. This is a VERY THIRSTY plant and it loves the California sun, like me :).

Now, into the first week of Dec. the plant is at it's peak and the lateral branches, and some of the upright ones, are covered with hundreds of the famous, small and intensely fragrant flowers. I can see more are starting to grow too. I was reading that sometimes the fragrance can cause allergic reactions. I have rather bad seasonal allergies, but I have not been severley affected by this plant and I get pretty close to it sometimes.

When I came home tonight, I parked my car outdoors about 30 feet from where the plant is located and as soon as I got out of my car I could already smell the flowers! I was so overjoyed that it prompted me to search more info on this plant and join this site. Hope this helps!

If anyone knows a good method to keep aphids and other small bugs under control please let me know. My plant seems to attract two or three kinds of tiny bugs. I would prefer to not use chemicals, since they may hurt me and anyone else who wants to enjoy the plant up close. Also, sometimes they burn the plant.

I found a link which I have pasted below that has a detailed description of the plant including pictures. Notice how the flowers look different in the different pics. The open, star flower is what it looks like at night, and the other pics with closed flowers is how it looks during the day.

Here is a link that might be useful: Night Bloom Jasmine pics

I live in El Paso TX. Does anyone know if Night Blooming Jasmine will grow here?

I believe it is root hardy in zones 9 and above. It would be marginal in Zone 8, but it is grown in the Shreveport area with some success. You would need to mulch well around the root ball and will probably have to cut back the dead growth. It will resprout in the spring if the root ball isn't damaged. In a protected spot, say with a southern exposure, it could possibly make it. It would be well worth the effort as the scent is intoxicating.

Mine really developed the strong scent in the second year. I have talked to others with the same experience. I think it could be container grown as well.

Steve

OK ya'll my 2 cents. I had this plant in my garden for years and had no idea what it was. Don't even remember where it came from. Probably a volunteer. The smell at night is wonderful. It doesn't smell if you get right up on the flowers but from a distance it's wonderful. Anyway, I purchased a book by Sunset, National Garden book, it has a long list of plants, pictures and information about the plants. I used it to look up this plant that had been unidentified for so long. Here's what's listed, Cestrum Solanaceae an evergreen shrub, partial shade, regular water, fruit and sap are poisonous if ingested, the variety I have is Cestrum Nocturnum, Night Jessamine, it grows to 12 feet, has long 4-8 inch leaves bright green, white flower clusters and white berries in the fall. I have never been able to start from seed but it comes up all over the yard in the spring and that's when I dig up the small plants and move or give away. I wish I had more room it is an easy to grow plant. It does die back after a hard freeze but always comes back. It is worth the effort of finding one in my opinion. I'll do a post in the spring if I have several plantlets that pop up in my garden. I wouldn't mind sharing with anyone nearby.

deep south gardener

I have night Jasmine by my front porch. It gets sun from about noon to dusk. We never water or fertilize or spray, and it grows near tall as the house every year. In full bloom the smell is almost too intense. As someone said, from a distance would be better.

I got inflamed hands from chopping some down. If I'd stuck my finger in my eye it probably would have really burned. Gloves are a good plan. It does NOT burn right away on your hand, but gets started silently and then slowly you realize your hands are on FIRE. Maybe I'm slightly allergic, but I'd be careful. And yes, those seeds are poisonous.

I got my night blooming jasmine seeds from ebay. It is not an attractive plant, but the scent in the evening is wonderful.

You can mail order the plant from Almost Eden

Here is a link that might be useful: Cestrum nocturnum

I will be starting mine from seed this year, from a seed trade in '03. Some of you have given me hope, and that it will do well. I am certainly growing this for the fragrance and am excited to try. I really do hope mine will bloom the first year, because I don't do well at all with houseplants :(.
Why do some references say that it's not recommended from seed, are they that difficult to start?
Any help would be appreciated.
Charlene

I am in your vicinity and my night jasmine bushes bloom when it is a little warmer than 75 degrees. It blooms and puts out its fragrance at night. Night jasmine was used very much in the Vieux Carre' in New Orleans in the 18th and 19th centuries to mask the smells of the horses and domestic animals (not to mention the outhouses). Some people do not like its sweet smell but I love it. I plant it where the breeze from the south blows the fragrance towards the house. And, if you pick a branch for the indoors, it will begin to smell at dusk also and REALLY give your house a good fragrance.
It makes white berries in the fall and you can use them in Christmas wreaths and arrangements.
I used the blooming branches in church once for a nighttime wedding and the whole church smelled very "weddingly."

Coleen

ok stupid question, can I grow this on my climate? I have always wanted one of these plants but I won't waste my money if the effort will be futile.

Thanks in advance :)

Maigan

I grew one of these a few Summers ago. It didn't return the next Spring, although many other Cestrum species are very reliable about coming back. I have a pretty pathetic sense of smell, but let me assure you that Night Blooming Jasmine can knock you off your feet on a hot, humid evening. To me it smells like a very intense cheap perfume. Not nearly as wonderful as Tea Olive or Gardenia.

You can grow it in your area. Put it in a large lightweight pot and take it indoors in the winter. You can cut it back and it will return in the spring. However, it cannot take hard freezes, as it freezes roots and all.
The previous reader doesn't like the "cheap perfume" smell. To each his own. One tree in the neigborhood can make a summer night smell heavenly.

My new litle plant is doing very well, blooming & smelling wonderful (to me). BUT, some bug or bugs love it. I can't find the culprits, but they are chewing the heck out of the leaves. Is this a larval food for any caterpillars? I'd rather not use insecticides if I can avoid it.... should I just let the leaves be eaten & not worry about it? Thoughts??

I may be a lone voice here but I think a WARNING is in order regarding jasmine. I had a nice healthy one on my balcony in SoCal and the smell was TOO MUCH at night. Unless you like cloying odors I'd suggest you keep this one at a healthy distance from your living space. Otherwise it's a lovely low maintenance plant.

Can anybody please tell me how to get a start off a Night Jasmine from the plant I have now...thanks a million...

I have sprouted cuttings from a Confederate jasmine by simply putting cutting into some potting soil. I used a kitty litter bucket and used plastic cups with some holes in the bottom as pots. I then put a clear plastic bag over the bucket and put it on my back porch in the shade (indirect light). This might work with the night jasmine as well..worth the try.

Hey pjames,,,will try it . let you know what happens...thanks...later