Reviving Paradise: Wonderful starry wild jasmine

Congratulations to all the folk who entered our little competition last month! It certainly elicited a great response, with lots of interesting answers supplied, and the most common one referring to an unnecessary full stop after the word salt. However, that was not the one we were concerned about, although indeed it was technically a typo.

The ooops we were referring to was rather important actually, so here’s the thing: ‘starry white jasmine’ and ‘starry wild jasmine’ are not the same. Starry white jasmine is a common name for Trachelospermum jasminoides, while starry wild jasmine is Jasminum multipartitum, a different species and the real indigenous gem we wanted to highlight. The name “starry” refers to the star shape of their flowers, but they are distinct plants from different genera – both gorgeous and many of which rival the exotic species for showiness and ease of cultivation, so let’s focus on indigenous whenever we can – our bugs, birds, butterflies and bees will thank us.

Exciting news to celebrate this gorgeous plant, is that you can buy one or more from Southport Garden Centre, up near the top of Bendigo Road past the Sunrise Farm entrance. They have lots of stock and it will be a marvelous addition to any garden on the coast – please do visit them to get yours!

As promised, we have contacted our winner directly to get her lovely prize, and I’m sure it will always have a special place in her heart and garden. To everyone who took the time to enter and contact me, it was fun to connect and I think we might even make it a regular feature in the future.

Calendars are available from Port Edward to Pennington, through various outlets and kind distributors. Remember this month is the month of love, and a calendar full of beautiful flowers makes a great gift that lasts for a whole year – look out for specials from our various stockists.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram