The Gardener’s Guide to Pruning Jasmine for Beautiful Blooms

• Prune all types of jasmine after it flowers to ensure it blooms the next season.
• Remove dead, damaged, or diseased sections completely and thin out crowded or crossed branches. Use pruning shears to snip the branches and vines off the plant.
• Don’t be afraid to cut jasmine back to 1 foot (0.30 m) above ground-level if it’s out of control. It will grow back quickly!

Pruning Outdoor Jasmine Vines

Prune jasmine after it flowers. Give summer jasmine a hard prune annually, in late summer or early autumn. Prune winter jasmine (including star jasmine) in late spring, immediately after it has finished blooming. Winter jasmine blooms from June to October in the Southern Hemisphere, and from March to April in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer jasmine blooms from April through June in the Northern Hemisphere, and from November through January in the Southern Hemisphere. Flowers form on the previous year's growth. Pruning immediately after flowering gives that growth time to mature so your plant can flower fully the next season.

Clean your pruning shears before making cuts. Grab your favorite pair of pruning shears to trim jasmine. Disinfect them with isopropyl alcohol before you start pruning as well as after you trim any diseased or damaged branches to prevent contaminating healthy vines.

Focus on one stem section at a time. Pruning an older, well-established jasmine vine can be challenging. You may be tempted to yank at vines to pull them apart. If your jasmine is thick, start at the bottom and work up a single stem, clearing excessive growth as you go. Then move to the next stem. If the vines are tangled, cut away the smaller branches to reveal the main vine. Then you can separate it from others and retrain it.

Remove dead, diseased, or damaged vines. Cut any unhealthy vines or stems off the plant, leaving only healthy growth behind. Once every other year, identify thinner, weaker vines with fewer blooms. Cut them down to ground level to encourage the plant to grow stronger vines. Aim to cut back no more than ⅓ of the total vines.

Thin out crowded or crossing branches. Step back and observe the directions of the branches. Look for vines that are growing out away from the supports. Remove weaker stems from the new growth to allow air and light to reach the vine. This also ensures your vines don't get so heavy that they damage their supports or cause them to collapse. Branches that cross other branches will rub against each other and damage each other. Remove the branch that isn't growing in the right direction relative to your supports and the way you've trained the vines. Thinning the growth will keep your jasmine vines looking neat and encourage better flowering.

Shorten vines to keep the jasmine from getting top-heavy. Cutting back some of the vines to about 3 feet (0.91 m) will keep your plant from growing off-balanced or damaging your fence or other supports. Shortened vines will grow back within 1 or 2 seasons. Jasmine can handle heavy pruning, so cutting back to this height shouldn't impact the plant's flowering next season.

Unravel and retrain vines growing in the wrong direction. As you're pruning your jasmine, you may notice vines that are growing in a direction you don't want. If you don't want to cut these vines away, twist them gently in the right direction and tie them with gardening twine. Tie tight enough that the vine will stay in place, but not so tight that you damage the vine. Check your twine once a week or so to make sure it's not digging into the vine. If it is, loosen it a bit.

Cut overgrown jasmine back to the base. Jasmine grows quickly and can withstand hard pruning. If your jasmine has outgrown its space, cut the entire plant back to within 1 foot (30 cm) of ground level. Select strong, healthy shoots to retrain on your wall or fence. If you cut jasmine back to the ground, it may not flower again for 2 or 3 years.

Pinch off vine tips to encourage growth. If you’ve got a new or small plant, you can prune it to make jasmine grow larger. Just pinch off the tips of the vines to encourage your jasmine to branch off and create a fuller plant.

Pruning Potted Jasmine

Do a hard pruning immediately after blooming. Prune winter jasmine (including star and Confederate jasmine) in the spring and trim summer jasmine in the fall. As soon as your jasmine has stopped blooming, cut away the flowering shoots and ⅓ of the new growth to help control the size of your plant. After pruning, put a trellis in the pot to help support the vines if you want your jasmine to grow vertically. You can also let the vines hang over the edge of the pot. Indoor jasmine may bloom year-round but requires a rest period during the fall. Keep the non-flowering plant in a dark area, don’t fertilize it, and limit watering for 4 to 5 weeks.

Remove dead, twisted, or bare branches. Cut the branches back so only healthy, straight growth remains. Use clean gardening shears to make your cuts. Remove yellow or dying leaves, as well. If your jasmine is dropping leaves, this may be a sign that it's not getting enough sun. Move it to a place where it can receive more direct sunlight.

Trim as necessary to prevent overgrowth. Jasmine plants grow vigorously. Indoors, it will quickly overtake its pot if you don’t prune it regularly. Trim back the vines and branches that extend too far or make the plant look unbalanced. Avoid regular pruning while the plant is blooming, except to remove dead flowers and foliage. Follow up with a hard pruning when blooming has stopped. Give the plant a few weeks to recover before resuming your weekly trimming routine.

Repot in the fall when the plant is completely pot-bound. Jasmine plants tend to bloom best when they are slightly pot-bound. If your jasmine is in a larger pot, you may see lots of leaves and fewer flowers. After the blooming season, repot your jasmine. Repot when roots start growing through drainage holes in the pot, or when you can see roots through the top of the soil. Choose a new pot that’s only 1 or 2 inches (2.5 or 5.1 cm) larger than the old one.

Root-prune when repotting your jasmine. If you root-prune your jasmine, you typically can return it to the same pot rather than using a larger pot. Root-pruning can help you keep the size of your indoor jasmine under control. The best time to do root-pruning is right after the plant has bloomed. Remove the plant from the pot and cut back 1/3 of the roots from the outside and base. At the same time, cut back the plant's foliage until it is about 1/3 its original size. Always top-prune the plant when you root-prune it.

Training Jasmine Vines

Set supports about 2 inches (5.1 cm) away from the wall. If you want your jasmine to grow freely up a wall or fence, put your supports far enough out that the vines can twine around the supports and grow loosely. Generally, keep the lowest wire or wooden batten of your support structure at least 12 inches (30 cm) above soil level. This will help prevent excessive dampness and rot, and make it easier for you to prune the lower parts of the vines.

Start young plants on bamboo canes. Jasmine plants are typically started in pots, then transferred to the garden once they've started growing vines. Set bamboo canes directly in the pots, and twine the young vines around these canes. Vines should start to appear within 4 weeks. Allow the plant to grow until its roots fill the starter or seedling pot, then move outside in early spring. Leave the vines trained around the bamboo canes when you move your jasmine outdoors.

Use the canes to angle the vines up the support. Take the bamboo canes from the potted jasmine and weave them through the wires or wooden battens of your support to help train your vines in the right direction. Adjust the canes into a fan shape. This will give your vines room to grow before they start crowding and tangling with each other. Establishing a strong pattern early makes pruning easier as the plant grows. Tie the bamboo canes into place on the trellis or other support using gardening twine to help them stay in place.

Prune away weak growth that detracts from your main framework. Once you've established the shape for your jasmine to grow, get rid of any outgrowing stems or branches that don't contribute to that shape. Trim once a week or so until the first flowering season to keep the jasmine growing in the direction you want. You may find you need to add a new row of bamboo canes to help train new growth. Remove the bamboo canes when your jasmine has formed thick woody stems. From this point, it should climb in the right direction on its own.

Tie winter jasmine to train the growth. Although winter jasmine can be grown vertically, it isn't really a climber. Tying vertical branches to a fence or trellis helps encourage the plant to grow upwards and cover the structure. String or twine are effective to tie in winter jasmine. Be careful not to tie so tightly that you damage the plant.