Plant of the week

SUMMER JASMINE

A MUCH-LOVED climber, summer jasmine has deepgreen, complex leaves, dark shoots and sprays of intensely perfumed white flowers from July onwards. They look especially beautiful among the dark young foliage and are also deliciously fragrant. The golden leaf variety Jasminum officinale Fiona Sunrise (pictured) has beautifully coloured golden foliage. If grown in full light, the spring leaves are daffodil yellow, holding their fresh colour all summer and mellowing for autumn. Hot, direct sun can scorch the young foliage of all plants with gold leaves. So, for best effects, make sure to grow Fiona Sunrise u up an east or west-facing wall or screen where the sun is less relentless. F Fiona Sunrise flowers less prolifically than does the green-leaved summer jasmine. Furthermore, the white flowers make a weak contrast with the gold leaves. But it’s still a fine plant, and strikingly different from its green relative. That’s why I grow both.