We have a well established Jasmine that grows up outside our front door and tumbles around the porch. At this time of year it is smothered in little white flowers, all of which seem to last for only one day, then tumble to the ground.
The bees love it, although they need a long tongue to get into the trumpet shaped flowers and reach down to the nectar. Some of the bees cheat, and rather than accessing the nectar as they are supposed to, they manage to push their noses into the bottom of the flower from the outside and get their dinner that way.
Jasmine always means summer to me, especially as it always reminds me of the Isley Brothers song 'Summer Breeze', with its lines 'Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, Blowin' through the jasmine in my mind.' It is the stuff of happy summer memories.
Although Jasmine perfumes the air all through the day, it is in the evening when it really smells its best, so it is really a flower for long Summer evenings, when you can spend time outside. Its pretty flowers with their five petals also put me in mind of stars.
For centuries Jasmine flowers have been gathered for their sweet scent. It is one of the most expensive essential oils as it takes 1,000 flowers to make a single drop of the oil. And at one time only young girls picked the flowers, because their hands are softer and less likely to bruise the flower petals.
Jasmine is sacred to the Moon Goddess and also to the Goddess of Love. It is said that love will grow wherever a Jasmine flourishes. You can pick the flowers and use them as part of a Goddess incense, or put them in a pouch either to draw love, or to increase your psychic and magical powers.
I'm just glad that ours has recovered from the 'trim' Graham gave it a couple of years ago.
