"Moonlight of India"

Doing battle with a giant hedge makes you appreciate the well-behaved children of the garden.  This Shirley Temple of a vine has been happy in the same spot for decades, and all it needs is a little haircut once a year.  The top blooms nicely in July, and I keep the bottom leaves trimmed out because the twisted vines are pretty all year, even on wet and snowy days. It's a hardy evergreen that doesn't require a team of strong men to keep under control.  There are over 200 varieties jasmine, all native to the Middle East.

This tender variety of jasmine is sold blooming in pots around Valentine's Day.  In Zone 7, it won't winter over in the ground, but I've kept some plants going for years in the basement stairwell by throwing a fleece blanket over the pots when it gets below 30 degrees.  In the spring they look freezer-burned and unhappy, but then a dose of Miracle Grow gets them started again and they take off twining up through the deck lattices. They have to be untwisted and cut back each fall.

While the scent of the hardy jasmine is delicate, the fragrance of this variety is drop dead intoxicating.  One little sprig by the bed perfumes the entire room. Jasmine appeared in the early poetry of Hindu India as "the moonlight of India" because the fragrance permeates the night air. The name jasmine comes from the Persian name for the plant, yasmin.

Leo Delibes wrote an opera in 1883 called Lakme, set in British-occupied India. In the story, the title character and her servant laze away the time singing under a canopy of jasmine.  The Flower Duet is one of the most famous for sopranos. You will recognize it instantly:

"Neath the dome, the jasmine
To the roses comes
'Neath the leafy dome,
Where the jasmine white
To the roses comes greeting
By flower banks fresh and bright greeting.
from, Lakme

Original poster for Lakme