The night blooming jasmine plant: The most fragrant plant you'll ever smell

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If ever you’ve been fortunate enough to be able to inhale the scent night blooming jasmine plant, chances are that you’ll never forget the heady fragrance it put out, and even as you read about this plant you’ll remember the fragrance.

This odiferous plant is actually a shrub. Because it is originally from the West Indies, it grows best in tropical America.

It is known as Queen of the Night in some tropical countries. Its heady fragrance can usually be smelled from as far as 300 yards away.

It has extensive vinelike stems that can form themselves into a mound that may measure 12 feet across, but that’s extremely rare given cultivation.

The blooms of the night blooming jasmine plant will happen sporadically in the warmest weather. Look for its telltale greenish/white tubular flowers as they rise all along the stem from above the leaves. When the flowers fall off it will leave fleshy berries that are colored in a shiny white color.

The night jasmine plant does best when planted in light sandy soil, will tolerate some shade, but it often does best when planted in full sun.

It grows best in average to moist soil, however care must be given to not allow it to become waterlogged. You can easily start the plant from cuttings that will grow extremely fast, especially in warm climates.

Young night jasmine plants will require additional phosphorous in order to encourage its root development. When shopping for fertilizer, look for P on it, it’s usually the second number to be found on the bag. Follow directions carefully. In the southern portions of the United States the night blooming jasmine plant is used in landscaping. It makes an excellent border, and can even be used as a freestanding specimen if you like.

It is a rather attractive plant, yet it’s unassuming. The flowers of the plant are not especially beautiful, nor showy as some flowers can be. Mostly it’s the scent of the flowers that most people seek to have.

Folk tales have it that the plant was usually situated next to the outhouse in the “old” days, as the fragrance would even remain in the outhouse all day at times and thus it was one of the first bathroom deodorizers known. By the way, the night blooming jasmine plant loves acidic fertilizer.

It is suggested that you prune your bush. This will remove any dead wood, and best yet opens the plant up so that the sun can reach all its parts.

Opening up the bush will also cause the plant to put out blooms as well. Also pruning a night blooming jasmine plant will enable the plant to have better air circulation which will discourage mildew and other plant diseases.

Also it is a plant that is often found in butterfly gardens, as it attracts many caterpillars that will eat the plant. Beautiful attractive butterflies in the day, followed by a sweet perfume by night, the night blooming jasmine is a plant that many simply love!

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