protecting Jasmine

sportbeth

Hi,

I've got a beautiful white flowering Jasmine that I've trained against a trellis grown from a hefty black pot at the base. Last year I had the same and the winter frost completely killed the last one off. Is there any way I can protect this one from the winter without having to buy a greenhouse?

The options I'm considering are:-

Bricks under the pot and fleecing round the pot base
painfully removing the fully grown plant from the Trellis and bringing it into my garage over winter. I don't have a greenhouse and there's no room to store the plant indoors, does anyone have a clever suggestion for me?

oliveoyl

You could try to fleece over the whole plant... you can make a kind of blind by sewing hems at the top + bottom of the fleece, put canes through each hem, attach to trellis or wall by using hooks. If it's a very tender plant you could give it a couple of layers of fleece and bubble wrap all round the pot and base (or use old blanket/towel etc.).

Zeusiblue

I am interestedin the answers to this post. i have a jasmine that is about 6 foot high and 3 foot across. it produced no flowers at all this year. it is a 2 year old plant, growing from the ground. do i need to cut it right down or just leave it as is ?

peter_the_piper

I think the problem lays with the pot. Its all too easy for frost to get into the container from all directions, its not the plant which needs insulating its the pot.

peter_the_piper

Zeusiblue wrote: »

I am interestedin the answers to this post. i have a jasmine that is about 6 foot high and 3 foot across. it produced no flowers at all this year. it is a 2 year old plant, growing from the ground. do i need to cut it right down or just leave it as is ?

How did you treat the plant? Was it fed regularly and if so what with? As far as I can remember Jasmine do not need to be pruned, only remove all dead shoots and any which are in the way.

sportbeth

Thanks all, do I need to raise the pot on bricks as well? I read somewhere that this helps to stop the ground freeze. And a bit of a thick question, do I fleece around the pot AND under it?

peter_the_piper

If its cold enough to insulate then fleece won't be man enough, you'd be better off wrapping the Times around it.

Zeusiblue

peter_the_piper
i just fed it with occasional tomato feed. nothing else. not sure what to with it over winter. it is planted in the ground

peter_the_piper

Whilst tomato feed is better than nothing, however it was designed to make tomatoes grow better and does not give enough of the correct nutrients for normal plants. Miracle grow, phostrogen etc are far better. As for overwintering, in a normal winter you should need to do nothing, you could put a mulch around the base of the plant if you wish. We have these and other plants outside in pots and they survive ok, mind you I did bring the red passion plower in for the winter as its more tender but jasmine are ok in this area of the country.
Regarding pruning, you could cut back a few of the stems, mainly the thinner and weak ones. Check out a good book on climbers.

alanobrien

I have a couple in wooden containers located on the north side of the house so they see little sun and do suffer a bit over winter. I usually just throw fleece over them if its looking like frost is on the way. That worked well over last winter where i recorded -12c as the lowest temp in our garden.