See the recent post on Cestrum and Sambac -- the Ben and Jerry of the plant world: not the most handsome-looking, but boy, do they make great-tasting stuff!

OK, you can skip the silly metaphor, but the bottom line is, prune it however you want -- it will put out new shoots, often at right angles to the cut stem, and still look ugly and smell good. Or you can tie it up to a trellis or a couple of stakes and let the new growth flop all over, and then clean it up in the fall when it comes back indoors.

It's always OK to cut back stems that have finished flowering at the tip and aren't producing any new buds there.

The thing to remember is pruning will delay flowering on the cut stem, since it will have to produce new stems with flower buds at the tips, but since it will usually put out two or more new growths when clipped back, you're upping the flower power later on.

Jim

My latest pruning method seems to be to forget to water until all the leaves are crispy. I'm wondering if there is any hope of recovery. Some plants have roots that die quickly in a wilt situation then nothing can be done to save it. Would a cutting root easily?

Sambacs do wilt quickly when they dry and drop their leaves, but as long as the stems are green, it can bounce back. Don't make the mistake of pouring tons of water and fertilizer on a stressed plant; keep it evenly moist, put it in a more sheltered, shady spot, keep it warm at night if you need to, and if that doesn't work, buy a new plant rather than taking the time to nurse a puny cutting into a well established blooming machine.

Jim

I have one of these, a Drand Duke of Tuscany. I bought it because my mom had one. It was ugly too, sad because the blooms are adorable. My solution to the problem is to grow a light non-scented (so it doesn't compete) perennial vine along side it.
Thats what she did only it was a more aggresive vine and these are slow enough in my experience. So it got drowned. Haven't figured out which vine to pair it with though.
Martha

How do you prune jasmine sambac?

Well,... Hummm... er...., Let me think.....

I guess with a knife, scissors or even nails will do !
(LOL !)

Update on my jasmine... It's blooming! As of this past weekend it has four sets of buds in various locations. It's put out a lot of new leaves in the past month as well. Apparently it is loving the heat waves we've been experiencing here in Chicago as of late (whereas the geranium sitting in a pot next to it seems unhappy). I'm looking forward to bringing the jasmine indoors for a couple days when the blooms open so I can enjoy the scent. :)

I haven't even put mine outside...
They are still upstairs in our back bedroom beside the window. They get a lot of light but not really full, hot sun. I love the scent - just wish those little flowers lasted longer....
I haven't evn had to prune it in quite awhile.
I have had no luck with cuttings in water....

Is Simbac Jasmin poisonous to animals? I have a new kitty who keeps trying to get to mine and need to know if I should move it!

I have cats but they have never tried to eat the jasmine plant. Maybe you should do a search on poisonous plants or maybe under cats or the ASPCA or something like that?
Mine cats like to go after Spider Plants that are hanging down.....

This site says true jasmines are not poisonous, but adds some cautions you may want to read

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7373546_jasmine-plants-poisonous-animals_.html

However, another site says the *berries* are poisonous

Like skippy, I keep a spider plant around for the kitties to much on. They know it's "theirs" and mostly leave my other plants alone. Kittens are something else, of course.

I started my plant ordered from Publisher's Clearing House and it is very small. The stems are growing way out and I have pruned them hoping I did it correctly. Any information you can share with me so that I know what I am doing. I don't want to trellis it but just keep it as a plant inside.

Many shrubs look and bloom best with an annual removal of the oldest growth. This keeps them from getting leggy - having long branches with no leaves at the bottom. It also creates a plant with one-, two- and three-year growth which looks good and can be ideal for flowering. As a result, the shrub gets rejuvenated every year and never looks old. Finally it allows the shrub to grow to its normal shape and size instead of being cut in the form of a box or ball.

The method:
Remove one-third of the oldest shoots at the base after flowering. The oldest growth usually is the thickest and often the surface of the growth near the base is roughest.

This will cause the shrub to produce new shoots from the base.

A year later do the same again.

And again the third year.

Keep this up once every year.

The result:
The shrub will always consist of one-, two- and three-year growth. Normally this will flower the best and the shrub will always look young and healthy because none of the growth will be older than three years. It will also look natural and not the unnatural green boxes or balls that many create by only trimming the outer growth.

An excellent book is "Pruning & Training - A Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual" by Christopher Brickell and David Joyce. It was produced by the Royal Horticultural Society, England and The American Horticultural Society.

I bought a tiny Jasmine Sambuc "Grand Duke of Tuscany" (~6in), and as I was repotting it I accidentally broke the top of the plant with two leaves. Is this plant gonna grow? It seems from what I read that there will be new branches forming on the side, but I am guessing the one I "pruned" will not grow any more?
-Comop