Heavenly scent JASMINE

RING IN SPRING WITH THESE TUBULAR BELLS THAT COME WITH A POTENT PERFUME

you’re sitting outside, taking in the warming sun, and suddenly the perfume hits you. Someone down the street has planted jasmine and its scent has wafted into your garden to remind you that you need to plant one of your own. Let it clamber over a trellis or cascade over a fence. Curl it over an archway or drape it along the balcony. That way you get a more direct hit of its intense fragrance, and you will appreciate the pretty spring flowers up close.

TYPES OF JASMINE

Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac)

This is one of the sweetestsmelling jasmines and has waxy, wavy, glossy leaves that show off the purewhite, pinwheel-shaped flowers. It’s not an energetic viner like most other jasmines and can easily be pruned into a pretty shrub. Coming from India, it prefers a warm climate. Size 1.5H x 2.5mw Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Small clusters of yellow, scented, trumpet-like flowers appear in spring and last for months, sometimes reappearing in autumn. The foliage is long, elliptical, glossy green, often with a bronze tinge. Grow along a fence or over a rockery. Size 6H x 6mw Chinese star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)

Nothing holds back this clamberer. It even scrambles over hard surfaces, so it makes a great groundcover. The white, lacy highlyperfumed flowers come out in profusion from mid-spring to mid-summer over glossy, rich, light-green leaves. Size 9H x 5-8mw Japanese or primrose jasmine (Jasminum mesnyi)

Lemon-yellow flowers appear in late winter and spring but don’t come with any perfume, which may be why it’s fallen out of favour in Australian gardens over the past couple of decades. You can trim it into a shrub or let it climb. Size 3H x 2mw Native jasmine (Pandorea sp)

There are many types of this vigorous evergreen climber. The tubular or funnel-shaped, lightly perfumed flowers come in pink, cream, bright white with maroon or burgundy coloured throats, even little yellow-orange ones. Size 5H x 3mw Common jasmine (Jasminum officinale)

Semi-evergreen or deciduous, this is both vigorous and graceful, producing clusters of 3-5 tiny white flowers from late spring through to summer on strong twining stems. It thrives in coastal gardens and can be used as groundcover. Size 4.5H x 9mw

THIS IS STAR POWER Create a perfumed paradise by enclosing a garden room with a wall of lime green and cream Chinese star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides).

ARABIAN JASMINE CAROLINA JESSAMINE