How To Correct Winter Damage to Star Jasmine

Q. What is the best way to fix frost damage to star jasmine? Give them nitrogen and iron? Wait for warmer temps? Or replace the plant?

A. Mild freezing damage to many plants, including star jasmine, discolors the leaf causing it to yellow or bronze but not die. At lower temperatures the leaf may scorch, drop from the plant or dieback and still remain on the plant.

            If winds are light, cold damage during mild freezes is more severe at distances further from the ground. The ground can radiate heat up to the plant, keeping the lower portions from freezing, if winds don’t continually blow it away.

            If tender plants grow both above and below a wall, it is not uncommon to see the top portion damaged while the parts below the wall remain in good condition.

            You sent me a picture of a star jasmine used as a ground cover. In the picture, most of the discoloration from cold is in the upper part of the plant. That discoloration is permanent to those leaves.

            You have two options; let it grow out of it in the next couple of months and prune out some unsightly parts that still remain or make some deep pruning cuts inside the canopy. These deep cuts will be focused on stems with loss of leaves or discolored foliage.

            Follow up with and all-purpose flowering tree and shrub fertilizer and some irrigations to wash it into the root zone. I would not replace the plants.