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My Confederate Jasmine has SEEDS

User
15 years ago

Well, this is a first for me. I did not know the plant, sometimes called "star jasmine", produced seed pods. And skinny inch-long seeds with fluffy silky heads which come out of the bean-like dried pods to fly away on a puff of wind.

But that is what I found this morning when I took the bubblewrap off my 4x4"x8' post where the plant has climbed

thickly to the top and looks gorgeous. At first I thought a bird was intent on nesting in the plant, but the breeze lifted the plant stem and exposed the hard open pod and I saw the silky white topknot was attached to the brownish seed itself. I had to document this with a couple of jpgs, in case anyone else was as surprised as I was.

Has anyone else seen seeds on their confederate jasmine?

Hope you enjoy these pictures, which I have loaded to my tinypic account with a link to the entire Gardening Alabama album below.

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Here is a link that might be useful: TinyPicGardeningAlabamaAlbum

Comments (21)

  • jeff_al
    15 years ago

    yes, mine makes the seedpods. did not notice them until the plant had grown large enough to need cutting back so maybe they do this after a certain age.
    i have never tried to germinate them but assume they are viable. actually, this plant has overgrown the site and i am thinking about removing it but it smells great during its long bloom cycle and repeats sparingly after the initial flush.
    curious about the bubblewrap. they are perfectly hardy here so surely even more so in your area.

  • User
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    This plant is not up against anything, just climbing a post in the middle of the yard. It is totally exposed to the elements, and I was afraid it might die. So I spiralled some bubblewrap around the post, securing it with clothes pins. We got down to 20 or 21 degrees and it did brown/bronze some of the outer leaves. However, it seems to be budding out new ones already. Next year, I won't cover it since it will be an oldtimer by then.

    When we were in Italy, this star jasmine was everywhere! In the towns, it was in big pots beside entryways, clambering luxuriously across balconies and arbors. Around the pool in the villa where we stayed, it formed a trimmed line of 2' hedge terraced up the side of the hill--something I never imagined as a use for this plant. I looked closely at the hedge, and it was supported by a wire frame, maybe low fencing. PERFECT way to hide a chainlink I think, since this plant keeps its leaves down low, unlike the carolina jessamine which forms a topknot.

    If I were you, I'd trim it back but not take it out. I have plans to put in MORE, and will try to grow my own from these seeds. One source I read said propagation was by cuttings, and did not mention seeds, but I will look further into it.

    Note: I took about 2000 photos of the gardens at Borgo Tre Querce and these 3 are only a sample. :)

    {{gwi:39162}}

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  • jeff_al
    15 years ago

    well, mine has reached the stage of the coverage in your second pic, even topping the roof and going across the shingles. i don't need anything that big and vigorous on my wood house, fearing damage from the holdfasts. it surely surprised me when it settled in and became so big after not doing much for several years.
    i will either cut it way back and grow as a "shrub" or move it and let it run up into a tree somewhere.
    on a side note, i have noticed some type of wasp or fly (maybe hoverfly or sweat bee) with its proboscis lodged in the center of the flowers going continuously with the buzzing, trying to free itself. it seemed to me that the opening must have closed on it after it tried to feed on the nectar. i wonder if this plant does this in order to ensure pollination? the insects were not released and died on the flowers. maybe it was those particular flowers that produced the beans on my plant. a deadly last meal?

  • idig
    15 years ago

    Gorgeous pictures.

    Jeff, you have me curious about the bee now. I googled it and didn't come up with anything, hmm, have to look into that more.

  • User
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    IDIG and Jeff, it won't be long now until the confederate jasmine blooms. I will keep an eye on my tall plant to see if it catches any bees in its lovely flowers.
    As Michael Pollan says, plants evolve to assure their propagation. With the scarcity of bees as pollenators, maybe we are observing the start of an adaptive process, whereby the plant captures the pollenator. Not quite a carnivorous plant, I think, but a dominatrix?

    I also found that the long tendrils of the jasmine lying on the ground in the mulch had fine roots beginning to grow at each joint. Although I bought 8 plants from the nursery to set out along my chainlink back fence, I took many cuttings now rooting in a Wardian container.

  • roseyp8255
    15 years ago

    interesting! let us know what happens with the seed pods. I have NEVER managed to successfully root this one...don't know what i have done wrong...

  • User
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Roseyp, if my cuttings manage to root, I will post back here. One of the two pots of cuttings is in a Wardian container, the other one is just out in a tray. Both pots have the rooting hormone on them.

  • wdoubleme
    12 years ago

    I have a variegated confederate jasmine. It's October and I just found several green pods. I'm excited and will be trying to germinate them once they are open. When I got mine it was the only one in the nursery and it's the only one I've ever seen. I think everyone should have a veriegated jasmine. The leaves are green and white. The new growth is pure yellow. It is beautiful. It's not as invasive and the green one but blooms just as well and is also evergree.

  • Peggy Bishop_McVay
    12 years ago

    wdoubleme,

    I purchased a pink confederate jasmine this past year and cant wait to see of it blooms/ survives for me. If you are local I would love to get a cutting of yours if you don't mind.
    just check my member page and e-mail me directly.

  • User
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Did you get a cultivar name for your pink blooming jasmine? I'd be curious to look it up.

    I am in zone 8B which is Mobile County, so don't think you'd consider it local to zone 7B.

  • eldemila
    12 years ago

    Just purchased one on clearance at Lowes this evening. I bought it to try and grow up and over my carport. Not sure how successful it will be on covering it. Want to keep it in a pot. The one I bought has pods on it already. There was one there that had a ton of seed pods on it.

    I read on a website they are also good for ground cover. Has anyone used them for this?

  • User
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Debelli, good job getting it on clearance. This is a good time to plant them.

    I recommend a nice size pot for the plant so you don't have to repot it for several years. They do well in big pots, because they get enormous in size. I saw some potted ones in Italy that covered whole arches and doorways, full of blooms and absolutely gorgeous.

    I recommend also that you try to shelter the pot from our very intense summer heat. The plant itself can take the full sun but the root system would bake like in an oven if you subject the pot to full sun.

    I notice you are zone 7, and I am almost in zone 9, but even here when it gets tremendously cold, the leaves do not fall off, they just turn a really dark brownish green. I have covered my original plant (growing up an 8 foot tall 4x4 post and reaching a diameter of 6 feet) and it kept it from perishing in its first few winter storms. Last year I did nothing, and even with 2 weeks below freezing, it showed no die back.

    Years ago, down in Morgan City LA, I saw one huge plant covering a garage get frozen back to half its size, but it did survive. That was the first such jasmine I ever saw.

    Now, I have about 50 young Confederate/star jasmine planted to cover the 7 foot tall chainlink privacy fence. Judging by the speed with which the first plant covered its post in the front yard, it might take 2 or 3 years at max, and then it will be a living fence, which I can trim neatly or not...in my case NOT, because I do not like finicky gardening I like "reckless abandon" in growth.

    Good luck with your first jasmine. Protect it from freezing if left outdoors. It should do fine in a pot since it is not hard to grow.

  • TensawGal
    12 years ago

    My husband and I had a garden center a few years back and sold both Confederate and Star jasmines. Star was not hardy at all, but had showier flowers, and was best used as a potted plant. So if anyone is looking for the outdoor kind, I would beware of anything labeled "Star."

  • User
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Sometimes things get confused due to lack of a scientific name. In my case, I speak of trachelospermum jasminoides, which is identified as being both confederate jasmine AND star jasmine. In the south it is referred to frequently as "confederate," and the USDA Plants data base shows it native to the entire states of Lousisiana and Florida, but does not show it as native to Alabama....which I consider as a slap to our southern heritage! :)

    It is also shown to be hardy to zone 8A at least. I do not think this particular trachelospermum is a true jasmine, it is more likely just a jasmine scented plant, thus they added the "jasminoides" to it, but I'm not a botanist or a horticulturist, so cannot speak for the intent in nomenclature.

    I would recommend checking on the scientific name of any plant, since anyone may mistakenly call a white blooming 5-petaled scented dark green vine a "star" jasmine because they think that is what it is.

    But trachelospermum jasminoides, AKA star jasmine, AKA confederate jasmine, is a pretty tough customer, and has endured the last two years of really cold winters here in Mobile (zone 8B) unprotected, although I must admit the plants were mature and huge, and did have a little bit of browning on a few outer leaves.

    Besides the 100 foot of these planted on my 7 foot tall privacy fence, they are just new last fall and have not grown that much (they take off and GO their second year), I also have these:
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    The massive column of dark green is ONE PLANT of trachelospermum jasminoides, over 8 foot tall and about 4 foot in diameter plus many runners on the ground looking for things to wrap around and climb. It does not attach via platelets like ivy, it just twines and climbs:
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    Here is that plant in full bloom ...ONE plant:
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    And this is what that ONE PLANT looked like in April 2008, I think the 2nd spring after I planted it: after the second year, stand back, because it will be settled into its site and ready to reach for the skies!!
    {{gwi:358950}}

  • User
    Original Author
    8 years ago

    As far as I can tell, this star jasmine does not use holdfasts to climb. The vines grow in a supple manner, and twist around each other if no other object is around. I've thought of using the long rasta-like twistings to make wreaths, they develop into strong strands.

    Presently, my main location is the 100 feet of chain link fencing against which I planted 40 jasmine back in 2010. I think that was the year. Last year saw the fence essentially covered and required shearing as they did in the Italian villa pictured above. One plant in the midst of the 40 had an extended period of flowering, blooming from early May until near Labor Day.

    The 7 foot tall chain link fence along our property line is totally hidden by the jasmine.

  • jlwestbrook
    3 years ago

    Moccasin - This thread is old so some of your pictures wont load anymore. I am looking to cover a fence in start jasmine... would you mind reposting your pictures?

  • tozmo1
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    @jlwestbrook Here's my star jasmine on a chain link fence (right side in first pic) and over my trellis and wood fence. This was two small plants, planted about 20 years ago. They get a major haircut once a year.





  • HU-508182153
    2 years ago

    I've had mine in the ground for the past 6 years. Was just trimming it & noticed the seed pods.

    I live on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.


    Does anyone know if this causes them to spread rapidly where you don't want them to?


  • tozmo1
    2 years ago

    Mine just grow like crazy from existing branches. I've never had any sprout in different areas if that's what you mean. My clematis does that but not this one. I have seen seed pods a few times, not often.

  • HU-508182153
    2 years ago

    thanks

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