I’m especially fond of fragrant flowers. And they’re a real treat when they bloom indoors. So when the catalog said, “Jasmine, sambac. Glossy green leaves. Very double white flowers. Fragrant. Used for lei in Hawaii.” I was completely sold.
I sent the order in early fall. We were leaving for our vacation in mid-November. But that left plenty of time for the plant to arrive, get established, and probably get killed over watering by my helpful young neighbor who always “took care” of my plants while we were away on vacation.
But the days went by, and the order didn’t arrive. However, we were going to drive right through the little southern city it was coming from. So, I said, we’ll just stop and tell them not to mail the plants until later.
Nothing else could have happened except the order he sent briefly while traveling south. I gave up. But the jasmine didn’t.
It arrived, well-packed, I learned later, with roots swathed in sphagnum moss. My well-meaning little neighbor, not knowing what else to do, unwrapped it and stuffed it, sphagnum and all, into a big flower pot.
Luckily, she kept the roots moist and not too wet. When I arrived home, the plant didn’t look exactly happy, but at least it wasn’t dead—yet.
A Fortunate Unpacking Incident
I potted it up. I didn’t have time to fuss in the too-busy days of unpacking and returning to a stack of office mail. So it went into just a good general soil mix. It continued to look unhappy.
However, later, when I had more time to study its likes and dislikes, I learned | that it is not fussy about soil. But one by one, its leaves began to turn yellow and drop.
Too much vacation (mine), I was sure. But then it began to put forth new growth. With roots in something they could feed on, it grew. Not fast, but a steady greening up.
It recovered enough to bloom after two or maybe three months, and I was delighted. I decided that Sambac jasmine must surely be the jasmine whose fragrance I loved in tea.
That was the perfume of its little, double rose-like white flowers. Later, I learned I was right. It is indeed the tea jasmine.
Identifying The Sambac Jasmine
Liberty Hyde Bailey’s Cyclopedia says Sambac is Arabian jasmine (Jasminum Sambac Grand Duke of Tuscany).
I’ve also read it is native to India. The plant Cyclopedia says it is a climber. So far, mine has stayed in nice hush form. I have it in a six-inch pot.
It’s also said to be ever-blooming in the tropics. Mine has performed as if it might be under my conditions, too. There is, I have learned, a single kind. But it couldn’t be as attractive as the double form.
The flowers seem not to last a long time when picked. But they do well for a fragrant posy-in-a-lapel vase for church or party.
Even when blossoms turn pink and eventually brown as they age, I leave them on the plant for a time since they’re quite decorative.
Care and Growing Conditions For Sambac Jasmine
I kept my plant last winter on a relatively cool enclosed porch. Exposure was west, but other plants somewhat shaded it, so the total sunshine on it was far from 100%.
I kept it moderately moist, watering it well when the top of the soil in the pot was completely dry, then let it go without water until that top layer dried out again.
I gave it no special feeding. It is my practice to use a rounded teaspoon of bone meal for flowering plants in a 6-inch pot, as well as a little manure and a teaspoon of complete plant food for all needed elements.
A Hardy and Enjoyable Plant
Being jasmine, this plant would probably take gracefully to more warmth than I gave it, especially if the humidity were provided. Certainly, it does not need complete sun or south exposure.
My plant spent the summer in its pot outdoors under a tree. There, it got watered occasionally when rains failed. So, to my mind, Sambac jasmine is not temperamental; it’s simply a delightful house plant.
44659 by Marguerite Smith