Winter flowering jasmine

Apodemus

I must confess to a love/hate relationship with my winter flowering jasmine. It’s looking good at the moment, in full bloom, now in its third year. The last two years I over-pruned it and didn’t get many flowers, so I left it pretty much alone last summer, except for one corner of the bush which was swamping a neighbouring rose. The results are dramatic in both a good and bad way.

I was out yesterday to tidy that border, (west-facing against the house) since it is full of bulbs that will appear in succession through the spring, along with spring-flowering heathers and self-seeded honesty, all of which give an early (for northern Scotland) show of flowers and food for the early bees.

The problem is that all the ends of the jasmine have self-layered and it is rapidly spreading along the bed. The rose has been swamped and looks like it has suffered from a lack of air around it and I have new jasmine plants coming out from under the house wall!

I’ve pruned all the downward facing stems back a bit so that they all stop about six inches above ground level and weeded out all the self-rooted plantlets (should have potted and sold them!).

The jasmine is co-planted with a Kerria to extend the flowering period and that works quite well. I expected the Kerria to become a bit of a thug, but it is the Jasmine that is currently running riot!

So what’s the real answer to this and how do I find a happy balance between letting the jasmine flower and not having it spread? Is it simply a matter of getting a taller trellis and keeping the trailing ends lopped off?

twopenny

I controlled mine by cutting it into a shape ie square under the window, columns etc. Then it was easy to see the renegade trails and easy to trim in summer.
Not so easy if it's among something else.
Shame we at opposite ends of the country. I've moved into a new place no garden and lots of big orange fences. My little winter Jasmin is not growing as fast as I'd like :-)