Maid of Orleans Jasmine Question

I think this plant is supposed to be a vine (or a bush, depending). If I am wrong, please tell me which forum to post this question under.

I bought several Maid of Orleans. They arrived in good shape, about 8" tall and had/have buds. Some of the buds have flowered and, of course, dropped off in 24 hours. Someone said to put the dropped flowers in a bowl of water to continue the fragrance. However, I find once they have dropped from the plant, they have no fragrance. They are also very tiny flowers. Is this because the plant is young? The fragrance is wonderful when they are on the plant though.

Do the flowers get any larger? I read where they make leis from them. I don't see how they can do it when the flowers are so very small. The plant tags were still on them Jasminum Sambac, Maid of Orleans and from a reputuable source. Am I mistaken in any of my reading? I have put one in my east-facing window and the other 2 on my east facing porch - both will get at least 4-5 hours of sun each day.

Any suggestions or information will be greatly appreciated.

Kaye C.

Jasminum sambac is a shrub not a vine (although many other Jasminum species are vines) I personally wouldn't consider the flowers tiny, although I guess that depends on what your expectations were--can you post a picture or give an approximate measurement? I don't know about the flowers keeping their fragrance after the bloom drops off, wouldn't surprise me if it had faded considerably by that point though.

The blossoms are about maximum 1/2 inch - very tiny. You are right, they don't have any fragrance and have degenerated by the time they fall off. I Googled MOO jasmine and several of the sites had information that I stated above re fragrance, type, etc. for Maid of Orleans. I thought they looked like a shrub also, because it doesn't look like a vine at all. Is there another forum I should post this on where the other posters might be very familiar with this species. I am told it is very common.

My expectations were of a larger flower although not a huge one.

Thank you so much for your response.

Kaye C.

That sounds about right, maybe they could be slightly bigger but that's in the right ballpark so I have a feeling they sent you the right plant. When you said tiny I was thinking something more in the under 1/4 inch range and that would definitely be wrong. There are other cultivars of J. sambac that get larger flowers, maybe you'd be happier with one of those instead? They should all have similar fragrance. 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' has larger flowers, more like 1.5 inches

ECrane: Ohhh. The Grand Duke sounds like what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll order one of those or look in one of our nurseries here for one. We have a lot of wholesale nurseries in Folsom, La., but they don't sell retail. I'll search around in order to save shipping costs (which are high) and if I can't find one here, I'll just have to order it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Kaye C.

ecrane: I just ordered the Grand Duke Supreme which is supposed to be hardier, faster growing and has 1 1/2" to 2" triple flowers in bunches. Thanks for the advice. I'll probably enjoy it very much. Thought I'd let you know.

Kaye C.

Glad you found one! I think you'll be a lot happier with those flowers!

I have a Maid of Orleans and mine is in a pot. I have long since lost the tag so I don't know the exact name. Mine is shaped like a small shrub but has long runners extending out that I attach to a trellis. The runners don't get real long like a regular vine. The flowers on mine are about an inch long and very fragrant. I have mine in full sun until about 3 pm. They do like to be fed often.

Lin

Lin: Mine definitely is a shrub as ecrane3 suggested. The one I have in my bedroom window is now blooming like crazy and very fragrant although it is only about 10" tall. However, it is not exactly what I wanted, so I ordered the Grand Duke Supreme also. The 2 I have on my porch outside my bedroom are also doing fine. They arrived in good shape from the source, so I have ordered some other things from them. Thanks for your input.

Kaye C

Mine is three feet tall and wide and in a pot. It is a vine although a shrubby one. I keep it trimmed to shrub shape. The flowers are small but profuse and highly fragrant lasting one day each. It is slow to vine so I think that is why most people think of it as a shrub. But then I keep my confederate jasmine in a shrub shape too.

lavender: I have 3 of them. The one I kept in the bedroom window was blooming, etc. However, the 2 I had on the porch outside my bedroom are getting more sun and are really much more quickly (both blooms and foliage). I moved the other one out to the porch. I think I'm going go leave them there and just protect them during the cold. I had Confederate jasmine before the hurricane and it never froze, even in our worst winters (which aren't that bad).

I think I'll keep these trimmed in shrub shape also.

Thanks for the input.

Kaye C

no problem. In the fall I cut my conf jas back severly to about 8-9 inches and it leafs and buds in feb. By june it is all bushy again. here is a pic of it this july, still has some flowers, although it is only covered in the spring with blossoms.

Kaye--Confederate jasmine is a couple zones hardier than Jasminum sambac, just because it survived your winters without trouble doesn't mean the Maid of Orleans will. I had a different J. sambac cultivar planted in the ground and 2 winters ago we had a week where the nighttime lows got into the high teens/low 20's and it didn't survive even though it was in a very sheltered location.

ecrane: Hi again! I am such a newbie, I keep forgetting that different cultivars have different needs. I am so glad I can come on davesgarden and get some really helpful, kind people to aid me in growing my plants. I can always depend on someone coming up with the solution to a problem or point me in the right direction..

lavender: Very pretty! I wish I knew how to take decent photos with my digital. I've got a very nice camera and I can't seem to take clear, pretty photos like other people. I think I'll get my neighbor's young daughter to teach me as she has one just like it. That way, when all my bougies start blooming like crazy again I can post a photo. I am very proud of them.

Thanks!

Kaye C.