surprise Jasmine

Last night I was surprised to see the first blooms on my Winter jasmine.

This jasmine plant was a gift from John Starnes in Tampa who was a member of the garden club and who writes a lot of the gardening articles that appear in the St. Pete Times. He knew I was interested in jasmines and thoughtfully gave me a cutting of his winter jasmine (I guess this is the same as Spanish jasmine). Well, last night I caught a whiff of the most buttery sweet fragrance and followed it out to the back fence and my jasmine.

I mentioned a few days ago that my plant was full of buds. Actually, I am very surprised by the whole plant. I got the rooted cutting and promptly planted it behind one of my hibiscus plants, so it could climb the fence. This was 2 years ago! I promptly forgot about it since it was getting watered by the irrigation drippers. I was startled the other day when I was out pruning and discovered that it had been growing behind and up the fence and now reached well over the top of its 6 foot height. Of course it isn't readily visible as the vine and leaves are rather lacy, but there it is, and now it is blooming. I will include photos in a couple of days since 1 small flower isn't very photo worthy.

I hate our fence. It separates us from the Florida Power easement behind and our rear neighbor. There have been weed trees growing in the easement and Florida Power says it is our responsibility to maintain clear access. When we bought the house 35 years ago, the fence was up, completely locking us out of the easement. Unfortunately it didn't lock out the trees, or the damage they caused the fence growing through the slats. It is a chain link fence with venetian blind slats woven through. The cuban laurel and florida holly trees did a job on the slats when they grew through the fence, leaving open and bent areas. I am grateful for the passifloras and jasmine that are growing on it, that keep it hidden from view.

My other jasmine plants are all thriving, except for the night-bloomer. It has an ugly green worm that is eating all of the foliage. I hate to spray it because I don't want to kill off any butterflies, but they are really doing a terrible lot of distruction to that plant. Still, the plant is growing, so I can't complain too much.

I found lots of new growth in the yard, so I hope this will be a bountiful summer and fall with all the flowers. I'll keep you posted! Bryan