• Winter jasmine (J. nudiflorum) is a cascading, deciduous shrub often overlooked by gardeners who want to soften walls and embankments. A cold-hardy member of the olive family, it can be trellised or allowed to trail. Trellised winter jasmine can climb 15 feet; trailing plants will mound to 4 feet, according to Clemson Extension's Bob Polomski. Its stems spread across the soil, rooting as they go. The display is delicate, rather than showy, since the bright, yellow flowers open a few at a time over three months.
  
  

Parent Variety

• The parent of many modern winter jasmines is the plant Fortune, introduced 160 years ago from China, according to Arkansas Extension experts. A low-mounding shrub that grows 4 feet high to 7 feet wide with arching stems, it blooms over a long period (January through March), depending on climate. Flowers are a cheerful, bright yellow and resemble forsythia. The green stems give some winter interest to the garden. Gerald Klingaman, a retired Arkansas Extension horticulturist, reports that as the most winter hardy of the jasmines it grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture Zone 6. Winter jasmine produces more flowers in a spot with full sun, but will grow in shade or north-facing locations.
  
  

Aureum

• Variegated Aureum's deciduous leaves are yellow, so it is useful as a contrast foliage plant. It has the same reliability as the plain green version, which received a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit. Bright, unscented, yellow flowers begin to appear on year-old stems before the shrub leafs out. Aureum may bloom from late October through April, depending on your local climate.
  
  

Nanum

• Nanum is a dwarf, slow-growing type that forms low mounds of arching deciduous foliage. The Royal Horticultural Society lists it as suitable for a rock garden. The society also notes that shrubby winter jasmine is useful because it tolerates urban growing conditions like pollution and poor soil. It has the same bloom habit as its larger cousins. Tubular, bright-yellow flowers appear one by one over a period of months, beginning in October. The display can last till March or April, depending on local climate.
  
  

Mystique

• Mystique has cream-edged leaves that give the foliage a silvery appearance. This variety is listed as smaller than the sprawling parent by the professional nursery personnel at Xera. They note that it forms clumps 2 feet tall by 3 feet wide. Like other cultivars, it begins flowering in winter before the foliage appears and ends in spring. The scentless flowers are the same bright yellow as the parent plant. Xera's professional growers describe Mystique as a tough plant that tolerates poor soil conditions and is somewhat drought tolerant.