How to Prune Asian Jasmine Plants

An Asiatic jasmine is a lovely addition to any garden. Its fragrant blossoms and attractive shape make it a popular feature of many homes throughout the United States. Frequently, it is used as a draping over arbors or is found climbing up decorative backyard columns. It is a fairly hardy vine that is not difficult to plant or maintain. However, the most important part of overall care for this plant is in properly pruning it which, if done correctly, will provide years of unparalleled beauty.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

• Asiatic jasmine vine
• Lopping shears
• Pruning shears
• Gardening gloves

1. Cut away the non-productive and diseased parts of the plant first. You will use your lopping shears for this purpose.

2. Make angular cuts on each of the flower-carrying stems. From the center of the jasmine, try cutting about every fourth brand. This will open your jasmine up,

3. Prune no more than about 35 percent of the inside branches. This will prevent you from over-pruning and ending up with a sparse-looking Jasmine.

4. Trim the jasmine to the height you want. One particularly attractive shape for a jasmine is to have a slightly rounded shape at its top.

5. Remove the vine’s shoots that often appear at the bottom. You will also find jasmine suckers here that should be pruned back as well.

Tips & Warnings

• In order to end up with a beautifully-blooming jasmine, you will want to prune it in the late spring or early summer months. This is because very little new growth has yet occurred.

• Also, if your Jasmine has been damaged (vandalism, fire or insects), this is a particularly crucial time to prune, as this will largely avoid the occurrence of suckers.

• Damage is caused to jasmine by pruning at inopportune times. These are generally when healthy new growth is seen. This is because a large amount of nutrients are stored in the roots and stems of the plant. If you prune this area away, you are essentially removing the nutrients so valuable for healthy new plant growth. This is often the biggest mistake amateur gardeners made in pruning their Asiatic jasmines.

• Sometimes a jasmine will sprout "suckers," which are unhealthy offshoots of the plant itself. These must be cut back regularly, or they will sap the jasmine of valuable nutrients.