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Monday, April 9, 2012

Star Jasmine Stopped Blooming? Cut it Back Hard


Q. My gorgeous, dark green, full and old Jasmine has stopped blooming.  I have tried several remedies and none has worked. Can you give me some pointers to get back the heavenly white fragrant blossoms?
Star jasmine
A. By jasmine I take it to mean star jasmine. This vine can also be used as a ground cover and must be supported on a trellis if used as a vine. It blooms in the spring only and so it may not be the time of year for it yet.

            Just be patient. There is no secret formula. Fertilize with any good fertilizer for flowering shrubs in early spring (January through February or now even).

            Be careful when pruning you do not prune out flowering wood. Do your pruning immediately after flowering is finished, not during the winter unless you know where the flowering wood is located.
            An old horticultural adage is that if a plant is not performing well and you are considering getting rid of it then cut it back hard. Of course this will damage flowering for awhile but you may get the plants “attention” and they will sometimes respond very positively.

2 comments:

  1. I am extremely allergic to star jasmine and now realize I have a huge vine of it by my front door...has made me extremely ill.... I have tried cutting or pulling off flowering but to no avail... I hate to cut it out as it will leave an ugly empty area on that wall... is there something I can do to stop the flowering and keep the plant?

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  2. I just moved to a new to me home and as spring has come on I have been overcome by the fact that I have a huge flowering star jasmine right by my front door... I am so allergic that I have been sick for weeks from it. I have tried cutting back all the flowering but it just flowers all the more. I hate to remove it because it will leave a huge empty area... is there a way to keep the plant and stop the blooming? Anyone...help!

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