The Beautiful Fast-Growing Vine That Attracts Pollinators To Your Yard

Pollinators don't just bring extra beauty and interest to your garden, they're also required for the growth of many fruits and vegetables. Luckily, having a diverse landscape with a wide variety of flowering plants is a great way to encourage bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators to visit your garden. One of the best plants for attracting pollinators like bees to your yard is the beautiful star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) vine.

Native to Vietnam and Japan, star jasmine grows well in much of the Southern United States and is hardy in zones 8a through 10b. Because of its rapid growth, star jasmine can be a great option for adding along your backyard fence, transforming it into a pollinator paradise. You can also opt to make a DIY a trellis to grow your jasmine on. Some people even like to let their star jasmine sprawl and grow as a pollinator attracting ground cover. It's not just pollinators that will enjoy star jasmine either. Between its charming flowers and beautiful scent, you'll likely love it almost as much as the bees. Even better, one type of animal that isn't interested in star jasmine is deer. They rarely bother it, instead preferring to nibble other plants.

Star jasmine is widely available as a young plant from nurseries and large garden centers. Once you've purchased your jasmine, be sure to plant it in a full or part sun location with moist but well draining soil. Plants grown in too much shade tend not to bloom as well. Thanks to its salt tolerance, star jasmine is an especially good option for coastal gardens. It's also a good plant for anyone growing a more water-wise garden, as it is relatively drought tolerant. 

Thanks to its evergreen foliage and flowers that bloom from spring into early summer, star jasmine offers year round interest for you and weeks of beautiful flowers for your pollinator friends. Gardeners in colder zones who want to try growing star jasmine can grow it in containers and bring the plant inside to enjoy as a houseplant during winter months. Star jasmine can also be grown as an annual, thanks to it's rapid growth habit.