In A Desert Garden

"Primrose Jasmine - Jasminum Mesnyi"

I wrote about the plants we enjoy for the Christmas season in previous years, this month I like to address the winter season outside in the garden. As I spend a lot of time in the garden, even in winter, I like color all year long. In our mild winter climate we can grow several beautiful shrubs and vines that give us winter color. I have chosen evergreens not to have too many bare spots and bare branches in my garden. We all know how wonderful Rosemary blooms in the winter. Especially the prostrate variety that puts out these lovely blue flowers all winter long, actually in my yard this plant blooms all year long. What a tough plant, but there are others, for example Carolina jasmine -gelsemium sempervirens, not a true jasmine is used a lot in our area. My plant is starting to bloom now and will be on and off till the nights get rally freezing and than will start again in spring, so will most Honeysuckles - lornica spec. There is another wonderful plant for winter color, Primrose Jasmine - j.mesnyi, a true jasmine, unfortunately seldom available in the nurseries. This is a sprawling shrub with a similar growth habit as the Tombstone Rose - rosa banksiae.My plant has been blooming since the beginning of the cooler season and will have flowers on and off all winter long, peaking in January and February. This plant is a Chinese native and needs a severe pruning from time to time, as it can grow into a huge mess if left unchecked. It is best grown in bundling up the long canes to desired heights and than let it cascade down forming a fountain of flowers. I have trained my plant over one of those simple bowed arbors. Here it hides one of my five 55 gallon rain barrels. To me collecting rain water is very important, not only does rain water wonders for my plants, it also keeps my water bill low, I also have a Container that holds 500 gallons and plenty of milk jugs to empty the smaller barrels. With my ponds and water garden nursery and my love for plants, I use a lot of water, but my goal is never to excide a certain amount of water use over the period of a year and saving rain water really makes that possible. We shall never forget that we live in a desert and water even if cheap is scarce. Anyway, that said, back to the Jasmine. This shrub has lovely flowers, they remind me of yellow primroses, the only downside is, they do not have the usual fragrance of Jasmine. The leaves are three lanced and dark green. This shrub does really well for me; I planted it next to our back porch that gives it a protected location. It is not fuzzy about soils and once established can take some drought. The first time I saw this shrub, I went on post to attend one of the last Theatre performance before they tore the building down. It was growing along on of the walls of that old building and I fell in love with it. I new it had to come down as well and so I took three cuttings to remember a lovely evening. The cuttings rooted very easy in water. I planted one and shared the others with friends. This plant is not bothered by any pests, whether it is fungus or bugs. To really enjoy this plant give it a lot of space as it is a vigorous rower. As my shrub gets rich pond water from time to time, there is no need for me to fertilize, for everybody else I suggest to give it some fish emulsion during the growing season. The problem will be to locate it in a nursery, but you are always welcome to take a cutting from my plant. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas Season and a happy New Year.