Carolina Jessamine
Gelsemium sempervirens
A native evergreen vine that covers trellises, arbors and fences in sweetly scented, canary-yellow flowers from late winter into spring. It flowers best in full sun and copes with wind, salt and short wet or dry spells. All parts are highly poisonous.
- Mature size
- 15 × 4.5 ft
- 4.5 × 1.4 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Blooms
- Feb–Apr
Carolina Jessamine at its mature size
A mature Carolina Jessamine grows 10 to 20 feet tall and 3 to 6 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, The Tree Center.
Through the year
What Carolina Jessamine looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · May–Jan
Glossy narrow leaves, no flowers.
In flower · Feb–Apr
Glossy narrow leaves covered in yellow trumpet flowers.
Photos
Growing Carolina Jessamine
- Grows well in
- The Southeast and the Plains and Mountain West.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Privacy screen, climber, specimen, deer resistant, pollinators, winter interest, and fragrant
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- Southeastern United States
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Carolina Jessamine, that’s about 4.5 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Carolina Jessamine in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.