Best Jasmine for my situation?

[Paul S]

After some advice, please. I would like to grow a jasmine. Not J. officinalis but something less rampant, highly scented. The spot I have in mind is very dry in light shade for half the day then a blast of full sun all afternoon. A relatively mild spot, certainly as far as my garden is concerned - remained frost free this last winter and down to -2.5C during the BFTE. I'd say J. polyanthum but is this hardy enough? If not, what is likely to be similar?

Muchas gracias.

[charlie]

polyanthum would be fine for you and is a good scent, but I find even more rampant than officinale and flowering is sometimes spoiled by spring frosts as its early to bud, I have had success with jasmine simplicifolium which has large (for a jasmine) scented flowers and is reliable flowering outdoors, down side is its foliage which is quite wispy, given how mild you are J. azoricum may be worth a punt and has a very long flower season, angulare is similar but with a shorter flowering season but more flowers at once. Dont be tempted by J. grandiflorum despite it being widely grown for the perfume industry in southern Europe it spends most of the year looking dreadful and the admittedly gorgeous flowers come only at the ends of long annual growth which then seems to die back and look tatty , flowers in the Conservatory late in the year but has died on each occasion I have tried it outside. J. dispermum is a vigorous evergreen which survives winter ok here but fails to flower unless under glass which it does in early spring.

Once watered in and established Jasmines will cope with dry conditions, in conclusion I would have thought the easiest to try first would be polanthum

Jasminum dispermum 001 by charliepridham, on Flickr

jasminum grandiflorum 002 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Jasminum simplicifolium 011 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Jasminum azoricum (pin eyed) by charliepridham, on Flickr

051 jasminum polyanthum by charliepridham, on Flickr

[Paul S]

Thanks for the resumé, Charlie. Looking at your pictures it is actually polyanthum with those maroon buds I've seen growing locally that is flooding the area with scent.
I'm going to have a look around your website, in fact, and get a couple of things :)