Night Blooming Jessamine

I purchased a Night Blooming Jessamine last summer that was a beautiful bush. Then last Winter, we had a freeze that killed most of the branches. Now the plant looks lopsided because the new growth is one length and the three branches that were left are longer. Can I cut the three older branches back to the same size as the new branches or will this destroy more branches?

Thanks,

Chuck

My experience is that this plant responds well to pruning. The cuttings root fairly easily, too.

I prune mine after every flowering. It's a vigorous grower.

Yes you can prune it back with no problem.

Thanks, everybody!! Now I am going to not only prune the plant but start three new cuttings...LOL.

Thanks again,

Chuck

Good luck with your newly-pruned Jasmine (not Jessamine f.y.i.).

Thanks, I didn't know that this plant was a jasmine. The people at the nursery told me that jessamine is bushy where jasmine consists of vines.

Thanks again,

Chuck

I stand corrected. I never knew there was jessmine AND jasmine. Those ppl at the nursery were prolly right!
Sorry for the confusion. =P

Actually, nobody's right! This plant has common names of both Jessamine and Jasmine. There are also many other plants that go by one or both of those common names, many of which are not related to each other at all. There are shrubby jasmines and vining jessamines and vice versa. This is why I stick to Latin names, that way there's no doubt as to the plant someone's talking about.

Here's the plant in question:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2128/index.html

Thanks, ecrane!! I stand corrected. Sorry about the mix-up, Fond of Fronds.

Thanks again,

Chuck

That's one of the reasons I really don't like common names, the Latin ones may be harder to learn and to pronounce, but at least it narrows down the actual identity of the plant you're talking about! I'm sure the nursery people had one particular "jessamine" and one particular "jasmine" in mind when they told you what they did, so it's hard to say if they were right or wrong. But at least you know what your plant is, that's the important part!

Today, I found something that I need interpreted byi an expert. I was looking at the Sunset Western Garden Book on Night Blooming Jessamine and Jasmine. I found that there were two Latin names listed...one for the Night Jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum) and then the name for the Jasmines (Jasminum). Can somebody help me out?

Are they synonyms?

Thanks,

Chuck

Which edition of WGB are you using? I have the one that was just released and also the one before that, and in both of them if I find the entry that says Night Jessamine all it says is see Cestrum nocturnum. There are a number of plants in genus Jasminum in the book as well, but none of them are listed with the common name night-blooming. Cestrum nocturnum is the only plant I know of that goes by the common name night-blooming/night jessamine/jasmine. Usually I hate common names because they're used for 10 different things, but this is one case where this is the only plant I've heard referred to by that particular name.

I am not really familiar with the edition my book is but it was copyrighted in 2001. I am sorry I goofed in that your link above already mentions the Latin name cestrum nocturnum for Night Blooming Jasmine. So the common names Jasmines and Jessamines are used interchangeably between the species of two Latin names...cestrum and jasminum, right? What I was doing was trying to look up the Latin name for other Jasmines (Jasminum). This species (Jasminum plants) can be also called Jessamines, right? Sorry, my mistake.

Thanks,

Chuck

Just disregard my last two posts. Thanks. Chuck

This message was edited Apr 22, 2007 1:22 PM

There are a lot of things out there that have common names of jasmine and/or jessamine. I think jasmine vs jessamine probably originated as regional spelling differences of what was once the same word. There are many jasmines that are in genus Jasminum, these are what I think of as "true" jasmines. Then there's night blooming jasmine which is Cestrum nocturnum (other species of Cestrum don't generally have the jasmine common name though, just C. nocturnum), Carolina jasmine/jessamine is Gelsemium sempervirens, Cape Jasmine is Gardenia, Chilean jasmine is Mandevilla laxa, Orange Jasmine/Jessamine is Murraya paniculata, Madagascar jasmine is Stephanotis floribunda, Crepe jasmine is Tabernaemontana, and Star or Confederate jasmine is Trachelospermum jasminoides. Confused yet? LOL (and I'm sure there are others with common name jasmine that I don't know too) This is a case where knowing the Latin name of the plant you're interested in is important, otherwise who knows what you'll end up with!

Thanks, ecrane3!!

Chuck

ecrane-I am constantly impressed with your knowledge! I agree-I don't like common names-too confusing for me!

Dear ecrane3,

I am taking a pre-botany class in Fall (I hope) so I can take a Botany class sooner or later. I started it this Spring but because of surgery had to drop out. Maybe then, the Latin names will come easier for me. While I realize that this won't make me an expert like you by far, I am hoping it will at least give me a rudimentary foundation.

Thanks again for sharing,

Chuck

I'm by no means an expert! I've just found the Latin names to be much more reliable when searching for info on a particular plant, so I've made a point to learn the Latin names for anything that I have, and I happen to have a lot of the various "jasmines" so I know the names. On paper at least...trying to pronounce them is a different story! I'll sometimes resort to common names in conversation when I have no idea how to pronounce the Latin name for fear of embarassing myself! (and I took like 10 years of Latin in school too, you would think I would remember more!)