The one thing you shouldn’t do with jasmine right now

If you want your jasmine plant to flower well, its success could hinge on the time you prune it – and experts are warning us to be extra careful at this time of the year.

The ideal time to prune jasmine is actually after it’s finished flowering, but if you missed the window, it’s worth being extra cautious right now. In fact, pruning jasmine too late could totally ruin this year’s flowers.

When is it too late, though? Here’s everything you need to know if you want your jasmine to flower well this year.

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Jasmine care essentials for spring

Learning how to grow jasmine is, in my opinion, one of the most rewarding things you can do in the garden. They’re lower maintenance than they seem, but a yearly prune will encourage better flowering.

Prune jasmine out of season, though, and you could spoil the blooms altogether. I spoke to Jane Lindsay from RHS Chelsea medalists Tynings Climbers, who own the National Collection of Jasminum, who warned me that pruning too late is one of the worst mistakes you can make for jasmine.

‘The only thing that people make the mistake with is pruning them hard, sort of April-time, when, really, they need to do it in March if they missed the October window,’ Jane said. ‘If they go much later, they’re taking out the flower shoots – so either prune them early to mid-October or early March.’

It’s much riskier to prune summer-flowering jasmine at this time of the year if you want it to flower well in a few months’ time.

‘The buds are already initiating come April-time,’ Jane warns.

You can start ordering in fertiliser for your jasmine, though, like Empathy’s Climbers Biofertiliser from Amazon. Just don’t give it too much, or the foliage will benefit more than the flowers!

Winter-flowering jasmine, on the other hand, does tolerate pruning in early spring, as soon as it’s finished flowering. For summer-flowering jasmine, it’s best to save any pruning for after flowering in early autumn, as Jane mentioned before.

So, even if you forgot to prune your jasmine last October, it’s best to keep the secateurs away as we head into late March. If you have winter-flowering jasmine, that’s another story – but summer-flowering jasmine should be left to its own devices now.