The Beautiful White Flower That Will Fill Your Home With Sweet Smells

It's always a bonus when houseplants offer a little something extra beyond the benefits they already provide — like beauty in your decor and air-purifying capabilities. It's a real plus when plants imbue their space with a pleasant fragrance that makes your house smell great, especially as we approach the doldrums of winter and need a little lift. Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac) is one of the houseplants that will fill your home with fragrance. In fact, its intense scent is what this delightful plant is known for, with the fragrance routinely extracted for essential oil, tea, rice, perfume, cosmetics, and more. Its flowers are even used in Hawaiian leis.

Arabian jasmine performs both outdoors and indoors and will bloom throughout the year as a houseplant, displaying clusters of small, white flowers. The flowers even retain their scent after being harvested and dried. Grown as a houseplant, Arabian jasmine should get full sun mixed with shade and will indicate whether the light is too intense by showing scorched leaves. Legginess is the indicator of a plant straining for light because it's not getting enough. Plant in a pot with good drainage, using a mix of organic media like peat moss and compost, along with inorganic perlite and vermiculite. Give it good, even, weekly waterings, but allow the plant's soil to dry out completely between waterings. You can slow down on watering in the winter.

Your indoor Arabian jasmine will appreciate warmth — between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit — and humidity. Placing the plant on top of a dish of wetted pebbles or using a humidifier can supply the needed humidity. Since Arabian jasmine is on the list of plants to keep in a bathroom with an aromatherapy bonus, consider providing humidity by keeping the plant in the bathroom, but be careful of overheating. Apply a balanced fertilizer monthly while in the growing season, and give the plant a twice-annual application of potassium- and phosphorus-rich fertilizer. Don't fertilize in the winter. When plants reach the point of needing a pot that is 8 to 10 inches in diameter, you can add a topdressing of potting soil yearly.

If you give this jasmine plant a support mechanism, such as a stake or trellis, it will grow as a vine. As a shrubby plant without the support, Arabian jasmine is well-suited to life on a windowsill. If you go the shrub route, you can prune the plant into your desired compact shape. Propagate Arabian jasmine with stem cuttings. No significant disease or pest problems plague Arabian jasmine, although you might see aphids, spider mites, and leaf spot. Root rot could also be an issue, especially if you overwater. Consider leveling up your knowledge of how to successfully grow jasmine plants before you get started with this fragrant plant.