Friday, January 23, 2004
Botanical name: Gelsemium sempervirens
Attributes: An evergreen, twining vine that is hardy outdoors in zones 7-9 but makes an outstanding indoor, winter-blooming vine for a sunny window in a cool room. This relative of the butterfly bush produces tubular flowers (double and roselike in the cultivar "Pride of Augusta") that are wonderfully fragrant, smelling somewhat like heliotrope. This quintessential Southern native brings some of that region's charm to a northern home in winter.
Bloom color: Yellow
Bloom time: Winter through spring
Culture: Plant in a soil-less mix in containers in cold zones. Water container plants regularly so that soil never dries out completely. Place them outdoors in full sun or light shade for the summer and bring them indoors before a hard freeze to a cool, sunlit location. Vines usually begin blooming around the winter solstice and continue sporadically through spring. Outdoors this can become a high-climbing vine, but it can easily be trimmed to any size. All parts of the plant are poisonous to ingest.
Landscaping tips: Carolina Jessamine is one of the finest plants for a cool winter sun room and is a fine trellis plant outdoors in warm zones when planted where one can enjoy its flowers and fragrance. It is often planted at the base of mailboxes in the South or allowed to climb up open southern pines where it adds some seasonal color and interest. Good companion plants both indoors in the North or outdoors in the South include Little Gem magnolia, sweet-olive, windmill palm, cyclamen, amaryllis and narcissus.
Cost: Available in three-gallon containers for about $25 or by mail order for about $20 for a one-gallon plant.
Source: Powell Gardens (www.powellgardens.org)