Carolina Jessamine

Carolina Jessamine is a favorite native vine for gardeners in zone 6 and south, because it puts on a spectacular display of masses of fragrant yellow flowers in the spring.

Carolina Jessamine is a woody, perennial vine. Its does best when planted onto a supporting fence or upright feature in the garden. This is a relatively low maintenance plant, requiring only occasional pruning to remove unwanted growth. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Carolina Jessamine will grow to be about 10-20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 4-8 feet. It's native to open woodlands with sandy moist soils in the east and south part of Texas east to Florida and north to Virginia. Its wiry reddish stems climb by twining. Carolina Jessamine flowers most profusely in the full sun, but will also flower in the shade. Although it adapts well to the heavy clays of the rest of the state, it will need some supplemental water the farther west it is grown from its native habitat. Carolina Jessamine will twine on trellises and over supports on fences and walls, and can even be used as a dense groundcover.