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Jasminum polyanthum (Pink Jasmine) - A rapidly growing twining evergreen vine that can spread to 25 feet with pinnately compound leaves that have 2 to 3 pairs of leaflets that are dark green above and lighter below with a terminal leaflet larger than the others. The clusters of pink buds open to display showy and very fragrant flowers (particularly in the evening), nearly an inch wide, that are white on the outward facing side of the petals and pink on the backside. It flowers primarily in the late winter through spring into summer but also has sporadic bloom all year long for us along the coast in Santa Barbara.
Plant in full sun to light shade with regular irrigation. It is hardy to at least 25 degrees F but can be semi-deciduous in colder climates where it is listed as hardy to USDA Zone 8. Plant as a vine on a wall, fence or allow to sprawl. It can be used as a hanging plant in a pot and in Europe it is common as an indoor plant. This plant retains the remnants of spent flowering stems and can look a little untidy after flowering but after pruning or shearing following flowering it rebounds rapidly; some just let it be and new growth quickly covers these spent flowers.
Jasminum polyanthum comes from Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan Provinces in China and was reportedly first discovered in 1883 by Père Jean Marie David, a French missionary and botanist, but it was not described until 1891 by Adrien René Franchet in Revue Horticole from plants first collected in Yunnan. It was introduced into horticulture in 1930 by the famed Scottish botanist and plant collector George Forrest (1873 - 1932). The genus name is a Latinized word that Carl Linnaeus made from the Persian 'yasameen' which means a "gift from God". The specific epithet comes from the Latin words 'poly' meaning "many" and 'anthos' meaning "flowers" in reference to the many flowers on this vine. It is also sometimes commonly called French Perfume, Winter Jasmine or Many-Flowered Jasmine. It seems that this plant was introduced into California in the mid-1960s as it was absent before this time in Sunset's Western Garden Book and Mildred E. Mathias and Elizabeth Mcclintock's A Checklist of Woody Ornamental Plants of California (UC Press) published in 1963 but made it into the 1967 Western Garden Book and since that time has become the most commonly grown jasmine in coastal California. It was awarded the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993 and we continuously grew this plant from 1979 until we closed the nursery in 2025.
Information displayed on this page about Jasminum polyanthum is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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