Cape Jasmine - My Favorite Plant - Brief Article

Flower & Garden Magazine, Nov, 2001 by Carolyn Tew

This Cape Jasmine plant has been in my yard for sixty years. My grandmother started this lovely flower in her yard a long time ago from a cutting from her mother's garden. When my mother married and moved to her own home, she took this Cape Jasmine with her. As it turned out, my parents only lived at that particular place a short time, so when they moved again in 1939 to what was to be their permanent home, she dug up the bush and took it with her once again.

It has glossy, bright green leaves and beautiful white fragrant flowers that bloom in June. It has survived years of winter cold, summer heat and drought but still blooms profusely every year in late spring. I have several other plants that I started from cuttings from the original, and my sister has one in her garden as well.

There are many wonderful flowers growing in gardens around the world, but my favorite by far is the Cape Jasmine that began life in my great grandmother's yard many, many years ago and is now blooming in mine.

To select the right plants for your yard, learn to use the Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Not all of your most useful gardening tools are out in the garage along with your rakes, hoes and shovels, One is probably inside your home in the back of a gardening book--the Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The first zone map was published in the USA in the 1930s. It was revised in 1965 and again in 1990.

Today's hardiness zone map has eleven different temperature zones. (If you have a zone map with only 10 zones, it's an older version and should no longer be used.)

Zone One is the northernmost, or coldest zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of -50 [degrees] or below. Zone Eleven is the southernmost, or warmest zone, with an average annual minimum temperature of 40 [degrees] and above, making it the only zone that's essentially frost-free.

The map has long been a boon to gardeners. With just a quick glance at a plant tag, you can determine if the plant will survive a winter in your area.