Beginner Gardening: to pot or not to pot? jasmine, 1 by _Mai_

_Mai_ wrote:
bought some climbing pink jasmine (Jasminum polyanthum i'm fairly certain http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1639/ ) for a friend's mother who is blind. i wanted her to be able to enjoy the scent since she cannot enjoy the cute little clusters of blooms.

anyway, i live in houston - 8B or 9ish - and i'm wondering if i should pot this in a large pot or just put it in the ground. i'm really worried about the crazy weather we get here from time to time and although freezes aren't bad and are usually short lived i'm worried about it dying during winter. since it's a climber i can't very well cover it easily! it shows hardy to 20F in zone 9a but i'm still a bit worried about it.

i read that it can be moved indoors as a houseplant and i think that's the part that worried me concerning cold weather... plus read somewhere that this particular plant grows better when it's slightly rootbound. it sounded crazy to me, and i wasn't sure if it was true or not.

so... should i be on the safe side and pot it up or will it be alright staying put outside? i would feel horrible if it died on her.

thanks to everyone in advance! everyone here is super helpful and we all appreciate it.