How to Prune Jasmine: Cut After Flowering

Prune jasmine right after it flowers, not before. NC State says jasmine flowers are borne on old growth, so cutting after flowering ensures a good bud set for the next season. Cut before bloom and you remove the wood the flowers form on. Common jasmine (Jasminum officinale) will take a hard cut once the blooms fade. This guide is part of our jasmine care guide, and it is about true jasmine (Jasminum), not star jasmine.

The rule: prune after flowering

NC State’s genus page says that because jasmine flowers are borne on old growth, you should prune after flowering to ensure a good bud set for the next season. The common jasmine page adds that the plant responds well to severe pruning after the blooms fade.

For common jasmine, Clemson says the very fragrant white flowers are present all summer and into fall. That is a long flowering season, so the main pruning window is late in the season, after the blooms fade. Our sources do not give calendar months for pruning, so go by the flowers rather than the date.

Step by step

1. Wait for the flowers to fade. Because flowers form on old growth (NC State), the cut belongs after bloom. For common jasmine, Clemson says the flowers last all summer and into fall, so the cut comes at the end of that long season.
2. Remove what you want to shorten. NC State says common jasmine takes severe pruning after bloom, so you can cut it back substantially to control size.
3. Keep a support in place. NC State says an indoor plant needs hard pruning and a trellis or support. Common jasmine is described as vigorous, so plan for something to train it on.
4. Do it every year if you want a shrub. Clemson says that growing jasmine as a shrub requires frequent pruning.

Shrub form, vine form and container size

Clemson says that to grow jasmine as a shrub requires frequent pruning. NC State says container plants will usually stay at 4 to 5 feet (1.2–1.5 m) and are easily pruned to size, so a pot and a pair of pruners make a manageable plant of that height. See our guide to jasmine in containers for the rest of pot care.

Indoor plants

Indoor jasmine is the one place the sources call for hard pruning as a matter of routine: NC State says that if common jasmine is grown indoors it will require hard pruning and a trellis or support. Problems are also more likely on plants brought indoors for winter (NC State, genus page): aphids or spider mites, leaf spot and root rot.

Which jasmine are you pruning?

Everything above is about Jasminum. Clemson, NC State and UF/IFAS all say star or Confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) is not a true jasmine, so the advice that flowers form on old growth is written for Jasminum and may not apply. We found no pruning guidance for Trachelospermum in our sources, and we do not extend this advice to it. Clemson also lists winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) and showy jasmine (Jasminum floridum), which have yellow, unscented flowers; our sources give no pruning advice for them.

What our sources do not tell you

They do not give months for pruning, a maximum cut size, a method for renovating an overgrown plant or a pruning schedule for younger plants. They do not say how far back common jasmine can be cut, only that it responds well to severe pruning.