# Carolina Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

> A native evergreen vine that twines up a fence or arbor and covers itself in fragrant yellow trumpets from late winter into spring.

Also called yellow jessamine, Carolina yellow jessamine, Carolina jasmine, evening trumpetflower, false jessamine. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-jessamine/

![Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) clusters of yellow trumpet flowers among narrow evergreen leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/carolina-jessamine-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGelsemium_sempervirens2.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 10 to 20 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 10
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, the coast, old fields and edges
- Native range: 11 states, north to [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) and [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: February to April
- Fruit: Capsules, September to November
- First crop: —
- Mature spread: 6 ft
- Traits: Showy flowers, Evergreen, Hedge or screen, Wildlife value, Salt tolerant, Erosion control
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Carolina jessamine is an evergreen vine of the yellow jessamine family, native to the Southeast and the mountains of Mexico and Central America, and it is the state flower of South Carolina. Its thin, wiry stems climb by twining around a support, and without one it mounds into a bushy ground cover. Its glossy leaves take on a bronze or purple cast in winter. On a steep bank it makes a ground cover that helps control erosion. Grow it on an arbor, a trellis, a fence or a porch post in sun.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Carolina jessamine grows slowly until it is established and then at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. A vine climbs 10 to 20 feet on a trellis or into trees, and unsupported it mounds about 3 feet high. One plant covers 3 to 6 feet of fence.

Fragrant yellow trumpets about an inch and a half long open from February into April, sometimes as early as December, and a few may follow in fall. Bees, hummingbirds and butterflies such as the spicebush swallowtail visit them. Flattened capsules about an inch long ripen from September into November and split to release winged seeds.

It grows wild from Virginia and Tennessee south to Florida and west to Arkansas and eastern Texas, and in the highlands of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. It climbs over thickets, fencerows and open woods and high into pines, on ground from dry to wet. NatureServe ranks it imperiled or critically imperiled in Tennessee, at the edge of its range.

## How to grow Carolina Jessamine

Carolina jessamine flowers and grows best in full sun, and it takes part shade, though it blooms less there. It wants a moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Once established it rides out short droughts and occasional wet spells, and it tolerates wind and some salt. It climbs by twining, so give it a support to wind around. Set the support 3 feet from a wall, and set plants 4 feet apart along a fence or trellis for a screen. It burns readily, so where wildfire is a risk keep it out of the planting zone next to a house. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in cool fall weather, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Tie the first shoots to the support with soft ties until they twine on their own. Collect the brown capsules in October or November, dry them for a few days, and break them open for the seed. Keep the seed sealed in the refrigerator until spring. Sow it in spring in pots of seed-starting mix, with no chilling first. Softwood cuttings taken in summer root under mist in 10 to 12 weeks.

Water in dry spells through the first year, and keep a layer of mulch over the roots. Feed it lightly, since too much fertilizer cuts flowering. Prune right after it blooms to shape it and keep it on its support. An old vine grown top-heavy or sparse can be cut back to a few feet above the ground after flowering. Deer and rabbits will not eat it.

Plants bear flowers of one of two forms, and seed sets only when bees carry pollen from one form to the other, so plant three or more seedlings for seed. It has no serious pests or diseases, though it can turn weedy along roadsides and in disturbed ground. Its pollen and nectar harm honeybees, so it is a poor choice near beehives. Every part of the plant is poisonous if eaten, even the nectar a child might suck from a flower, and honey made from its nectar can poison people.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/gelsemium-sempervirens/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GESE)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=282490)
- [Clemson Cooperative Extension Home and Garden Information Center, HGIC 1103: Carolina Jessamine (Russ and Polomski, updated 2023)](https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/carolina-jessamine/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: false jessamine](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=359)
- [Ornduff, R. 1970. The systematics and breeding system of Gelsemium (Loganiaceae). Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 51: 1-17](https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.7036)
- [Pascarella, J. B. 2026. Reproductive processes do not constrain the western range limit of Gelsemium sempervirens (Gelsemiaceae). Forests 17(4): 413](https://doi.org/10.3390/f17040413)
- [North Carolina Botanical Garden: germination codes chart](https://ncbg.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/963/2022/08/germinationcodes.pdf)
- [University of Florida IFAS, Landscape Plant Propagation Information: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/database/lppi/sp170.shtml)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.145884/Gelsemium_sempervirens)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Gelsemium sempervirens](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/GESE)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)

## Related

- Trees to plant it under: [Pond Cypress](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pond-cypress/index.html.md), [Sugarberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sugarberry/index.html.md) and [Redbay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/redbay/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Carolina Jessamine, add ?species=carolina-jessamine with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 6, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Carolina Jessamine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Carolina Jessamine as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Carolina Jessamine is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Carolina Jessamine needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 3 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=carolina-jessamine:3
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Carolina Jessamine where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Carolina Jessamine goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=carolina-jessamine&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Carolina Jessamine flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=carolina-jessamine