Carolina Jessamine is currently beautifying waste places, chain link fences, and unkempt roadsides with its happy yellow flowers. Carolina Jessamine (sometimes labeled Carolina Jasmine) is Gelsemium sempervirens, pronounced gel-SEM-ee-um sem-per-VY-renz. Flowering is at peak right now in upstate South Carolina.
This native, semi-evergreen vine is a favorite of gardeners who want early spring color but do not want to construct supports for heavy vines. Tubular flowers have five petals and are one inch long, held either singly or in small clusters. Vines twine instead of adhering, so they can be induced to climb a solid board privacy fence by running clear monofilament (fishing line) horizontally and diagonally between small screw eyes. Vines may reach twenty feet in length after a couple of growing seasons. Without support, vines become more bush-like as a groundcover. They help prevent erosion when planted on steep banks, and they perform well on fences, deck posts, and trellises.
Carolina Jessamine is cold hardy in zones 6-10. It is undemanding about soil type and pH, but prefers full sun to flower abundantly. The narrow, glossy leaves take on a bronze or purple shade in cold weather. Skip the fertilizer to prevent over-abundant vine growth and fewer flowers. If the plant gets woody with age, blooming only at its upper reaches, renovate by a severe pruning. Take precautions to avoid skin exposure. The sap causes a rash in sensitive individuals.
NC State University reports that Carolina Jessamine is highly flammable and should not be planted within the defensible space of a home. Normally I would ignore such advice, but the recent wildfires all around southern NC and northern SC have led me to reevaluate some of my choices. (Buh-bye, eucalyptus and cross vine!)
All parts of the vine are toxic and can be fatal if ingested. Children who confuse it with honeysuckle can be poisoned by its strychnine-related toxins if they suck the nectar from flowers. This toxicity does not deter pollinators, who visit the flowers without apparent harm. Neither deer nor rabbits browse Carolina Jessamine.
Carolina Jessamine is the state flower of South Carolina.
Lovely yellow flowers adorn a chain link fence along an interstate highway in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
This Carolina Jessamine has become shrub-like because it does not have anything vertical to support its climbing habit.
In this weed-invested median of a health-center parking lot, Carolina Jessamine grows atop juniper shrubs.
Stay tuned: Next week is a weed rant for aptly named Sticky Weed, also known as Velcro Weed, Catchweed Bedstraw, Sticky Willy, Cleavers, and a few other names I cannot put into print.