I have 2 potted Star Jasmine. They both survived the snow this winter. I find that they are pretty slow to grow because of the cooler temperatures in the NW. If you want it to grow over a wall it will need something to support it.

I am in Portland, and find that Jasmine is slow growing here. I would recommend the native honeysuckle for covering fences. Grows quickly and has a very beautiful scent.

My Star Jasmine got absolutely trashed over the winter, but I'm hoping it might come back from the roots. I live in an especially cold spot near Renton, where the fog and frost sometimes don't leave for days. There are hardier Jasmines out there.

I also live in Renton and purchased 2 star jasmine last season to grow in trellised flower boxes flanking our front door (gets afternoon sun). Mine looked exactly as described - with rather sad looking brown leaves and brown vine tips. However, I understand that their winter foliage is "bronze" which may explain why they look less than healthy right now. I read that they should be cut back by about 1/3 in the spring to encourage new growth so I took the plunge and cut them back a couple of weeks ago. I've noticed that new growth has started so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they begin to recover their nice green color soon. They do need lots of water in the beginning to help them establish their root system. At any rate, with a little care and a couple of growing seasons, they should do pretty well in Z8 or above. Good luck!

I had planted a star jasmine (not realizing it's potential) under the dining room window on a small trellis at my old house. Within a year it grew up past the trellis and onto the shade outside the window. 3 years later it completely covered the shade, grew onto the roof and was reaching for a tree about 8 feet away. It was covered with TONS of flowers and the scent was amazing.

Fast forward to this past summer. I bought a new jasmine for my new house. Trained it to grow up a trellis and it was going great guns, then it died this winter. I think it froze...but nothing else I had froze, so I'm REALLY hoping it comes back. My passion flower vines came back, so there is hope in my heart.

I live in Salem...we have such mild weather, and this last jasmine should have done as well as the old one...same variety (I bought it from Home Depot, tho...that might be the problem...) I'm not giving up on the jasmine tho. I had both planted directly into the ground, both getting a nice southern exposure.

Borderline plant for warm wall or nook near salt water. Will do well for years in such a spot in places like Seattle, although even that has milder and colder neighborhoods, as well as microclimates within neighborhoods - a year (1990) it was 12F on a site in West Seattle it was 2F on another in North Seattle.

Think I have seen minimum of 15F indicated for this plant somewhere. Locations a ways out from the Sound like Renton and Puyallup, or well down the Valley (like Salem, where it was -12F in 1990) will tend to be too cold for it to persist for long periods.

Kirkland is well within Zone 8.

Here is a link that might be useful: WASHINGTON USDA Hardiness Zone Map

Mine looks crummy, too! I've got it planted in a clean pot, fresh potting soil, a little compost mixed in, growing up netting on the edge of a covered porch, getting on the NW side of the house, getting great midday sun for hours. It keeps slowly growing, but it's got brown leaves on it. It puts on lots of flowers, but they don't bloom riotously. I haven't had trouble with any other flowers in this spot. It gets enough water. I'm stumped. Any ideas??? It's so underwhelming that I'm thinking about sticking it in some random place and just going with morning glories or something for my summer privacy screen.

Trachelospermum jasminoides known as Star or Confederate Jasmine though it isn't a Jasminum grows like a weed and is covered with thousands of blooms in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Expecting it to do as well here, isn't realistic. The good news is that it is so fragrant even a few blooms are worthy of growing it.

I've seen some pretty nice ones here, well sprinkled with flowers. If the one in the pot was exposed to freezing of the root zone that could be the problem, perhaps much of the root system was killed. Roots are less hardy than tops, roots can freeze on a potted plant without the top showing it - until later when the top doesn't grow as much as it should.

My friends in Ballard had a gorgeous one facing west on a trelis. I think the hotest spot in your yard is essential, reflected heat would be good too - they had quite a bit of reflected heat from the house (which was white)

I'm considering trying a star jasmine as a ground cover in a small area at our beach house in Seaside. I'm not worried about it freezing but wonder if it will get enough sun and heat. It will get full sun in the afternoon on those days the sun shines. Anyone have success in a coastal location?
I really believe that if you've been to Disneyland when their jasmine are blooming, you're hooked.

Blooming now, very common in Seattle (for the moment). Try walking or driving around Seaside to see if any established plants are visible.

There was a big one already here when I bought the house in May 2005 and it is thriving, covered with overwhelming blossoms. Every winter it looks awful and I wonder if it will survive. It needs watering to recover from the cold. Planted 9 others; 3 have died, others are growing slowly and blooming now. Have planted lots of honeysuckle interspersed since Hall's honeysuckle seems to do really well in my yard and I need a guarantee of privacy evergreen coverage on the chainlink fence.

Oddly, Camano Island site had two established Hall's honeysuckle in different planting locations die back to almost nothing last winter. November was unusually wet, later in the season it got into the teens (F).

Unusually sensitive to dampness at the root? Seems unlikely, in fact the only naturalized-looking specimen I have seen in this area (I pay attention, as Japanese honeysuckle is a curse back East) is on a little flat right next to Lake Washington, where presumably it finds dampness lacking on better-draining sites which prevents the species from surviving our summers unassisted.

A tender clone, that freezes below 20F?

It really is not warm enough here reliably enough long enough for star jasmine to do well. It can do ok, and it can do well enough in banana belts, but otherwise, if you're wondering why your star jasmine is all brown and not doing well, it's because it's too cold here. Just because it didn't die outright during winter does not mean that the cold didn't get it. And snow is not a measure of how cold it gets. It can snow at 31 degrees, and not hurt things; and it can not snow at 5 degrees and kill things outright.

Many woody plants will not show obvious signs of being dead for weeks or months after dying, there's a lot of energy stored in the roots and woody parts. They're not like animals, where you're alive one moment and dead the next; they reach a point of no return long before we notice anything wrong. I've seen my rose prunings sprout new growth even though they've been cut off the plant for weeks and are just left lying on the ground in a pile. Common with borderline hardy plants, they are killed in the winter but it's not clear to us that they're dead until well into spring, they might just hang on doing nothing, until the first hot spell and then they collapse because there's not enough live tissue left to move water through the plant in hot weather.

A well drained site will be essential here for star jasmine. Our soils get waterlogged over the winter, and wet soils take forever to warm up in spring compared to well drained soils. It's the cold wet soil that gets more plants than the cold air temperatures.

Star jasmine twines around things but does not stick like ivy does. It will climb a grapestake or chainlink fence by itself, as it can twine around the thin stakes and wires, but a wall or board fence will need wires or trellising for it to twine around. It can be a monster if it doesn't freeze or drown!

Yep.

I planted Jasminum officinale aureum last year, and it is doing well, the flowers are fragrant but not so that they waft yet, maybe when there are more produced at once. It is hardy to zone 7. Personally I dislike the fragrance of Star Jasmine.

I find with Jasminum officinale I have to stick my nose in it to get anything.

Perhaps "your hooter just does not pick up their particular aromas very well."

Well I certainly have no trouble detecting acrimony. If that's what you prefer to take away from these discussions, rather than all the free advice, shared experiences and insights, help yourself.

Just repeating what you said about me in a former post. Whose acrimony? I was only joking, what were you doing? You don't even know me or what my education is but you love knocking what I say on these forums which I believe are not for experts but for gardeners to share their experiences.

If you were joking, good for you. I phrased it with "hooter" etc. so as not to be offensive. Umpteenth example(s) of intent being misread on an internet forum.

My interest is in what is real, what really happens and what really works. Lots of falsehoods and misinterpretations come out in these discussions, those who have other information can let it all go or they can speak up.

My star jasmines are still blooming like mad through this searing heat. They get sprinkler-watered and a little hose supplemental, but don't want a lot of water. The fragrance was heady last night in the 80 degree darkness! Also have a Klehm's Hardy Gardenia in a container by the front door that looked iffy during spring but has now burst into many little blooms, incredibly lovely fragrance. It's another fussy plant that is a bit mystifying but is alive today :-)

I also have found the gardenias difficult so far. However, I have also seen a few good-looking ones being grown by others.

My Klehm's Hardy which I tried moving and then moved back to it's former spot next to my concrete foundation had it's first bloom today and another big fat bud coming, so it seems to be recovering. I'm crazy about their fragrance as well.

I bought a Star Jasmine at the beginning of this summer and repotted it into a large ceramic pot that I would say is about 20 gallon size. I had it on my deck getting morning sun all summer and now that it is getting cold at night I brought it inside. Is it normal for it to shed leaves this time of year? I also read some where that they bloom better if they are some what root bound is this true? If so I am thinking it wasn't such a good idea to plant it in such a large pot. Here is a picture of what it looked like during its blooming cycle.