Winter Jasmine

#TeachingTuesday: Winter Jasmine

This week’s plant of the week is winter jasmine. The scientific name of winter jasmine is Jasminum nudiflorum, meaning “naked flower” because it blooms before it leafs out.

Winter jasmine is a semi-evergreen shrub that grows in a mound with arching canes, and will spread to form colonies. It grows well on slopes, in natural areas, and overhanging walls. It tolerates drought, deer, poor soils, and some shade, although it blooms better in sun. In natural areas, it’s very low maintenance, but if it’s growing over a wall or in a high-traffic area, it may need to be pruned or thinned once a year after it blooms to keep it from getting too large.

ID Tips

At a glance, winter jasmine might be confused with forsythia, because they both bloom early and have small yellow flowers. However, there are some easy ways to tell the difference.

• Both have square stems with buds in opposite pairs along the stems. However, forsythia stems will be covered with small corky bumps, while winter jasmine stems will be smoother.
• Winter jasmine forms a low, scrambling shrub that is very well-suited to spilling over walls, while forsythia is a large, upright shrub.
• Winter jasmine blooms earlier than forsythia.
• Winter jasmine flowers have 5 or 6 rounded petals, while forsythia flowers have 4 long, strap-like petals.
• The leaves look completely different– Winter jasmine leaves are trifoliate, which means each leaf is made up of three tiny leaflets, while the leaves of forsythias are larger, single, narrow, and pointed.