Knowledgebase

struggling star jasmine #868068

Asked May 12, 2024, 11:45 AM EDT

Hi--  

We live in the west hills of Portland.  We have a start jasmine that had been doing well until the January cold snap.  The plant is on the east side of the garage and was subjected to the cold, dry east wind of that storm.  

This spring, only a portion of the vine appears to be alive--see yellow boxes in attached photo.  We have enjoyed the flowers and fragrance of the jasmine and would like to restore/maintain it.  What would you recommend for next steps at this point?  I can think of a few options:

  • leave it alone and see what it does
  • trim off dead areas of the vine and let it grow
  • cut off all vines near the ground and let plant regrow vines -- assuming the root is healthy and well-established after the ~5 years it has been growing there
  • remove plant entirely and start over

What would seem reasonable from your perspective?

Thanks.

Washington County Oregon

Expert Response

Hi Chuck and thanks for your question and picture about your star jasmine. It looks like a healthy growth of new leaves at the bottom, so while devastating, the freeze did not kill the roots. I would follow your second suggestion and cut off the dead vines. Leave all the beautiful new leaves at the bottom to head up the trellis again and do pick up any dead leaves that have fallen so they don't encourage disease.

Most of our plants that got a "set back (!)" during the freeze have recovered and yours looks like it's well on its way. It wouldn't hurt it to leave it alone, but I'm pretty sure you don't want the dead leaves staring at you all summer until the new growth gets there.

Good job waiting until now to see what happens... many people tried to cut things back too early.
Rhonda Frick-Wright Replied May 13, 2024, 2:28 PM EDT

Loading ...