There are many different cultivars of jasmine, with some classified as summer blooming and others as winter blooming. The rule for pruning jasmine applies to both types, with the task performed after they finish flowering because their flowers form on old growth put out the previous year. Pruning jasmine before it blooms will not harm the plant, but it will reduce or altogether halt the current season’s number of flowers. The right time for pruning jasmine of the winter variety is spring, and the correct time for pruning jasmine that blooms in summer is early fall or late summer. Pruning jasmine of either type calls for cutting away crossing branches for better air circulation and improved appearance, and also thinning out a too-bushy specimen. A simple hard pruning can be applied to reinvigorate growth, but such an action could halt flowering for a couple of years.
Planting jasmine first requires the selection of a well-drained site that either receives full sun or partial sun throughout the day for a minimum of four hours. Jasmine does well with mild fertilization, and the soil also can be amended with lime. The plant needs to be watered frequently during the heat of summer. Jasmine can grow as tall as 15 feet (4.57 meters), with as much as 2 feet (0.60 meters) of growth a year.
A few hundred different types of jasmine have been recorded, and to confuse matters, other kinds of plants are sometimes also commonly referred to as jasmine. Several types of jasmine are used in perfume making because of their incredible sweet fragrance, such as Jasminum odoratissimum. Another type, Jasminum grandiflorum is used in skin-soothing products. Jasminum sambac adds flavor and scent to some jasmine tea products.
Jasmine has a wide variety of uses. Oils made from the flower are used in aromatherapy, and a medicinal use employs the tea to treat sunstroke. Jasmine flowers are quite decorative and are sometimes worn as a hair adornment, and the flowers also have been used as special occasion decorations, such as for weddings.
