Wednesday 4 March 2015

Growing Water Jasmine Plants, Sui Mui (Wrightia Religiosa Benth) In My Garden

From young, I have always have a special liking for this sweet smelling flowering plant. This plant is the Water Jasmine plant, called Sui Mui in Cantonese. Its scientific name is Wrightia Religiosa Benth.
Water Jasmine or sometimes known as Wild Water Plum is a shrub or a hedge plant. It can be grown in the ground or potted. It can be grown as a hedge plant or as an ornamental plant. Water Jasmine is also grown and shaped as beautiful bonsai plants.
Water Jasmine is an evergreen, tropical plant. It is easy to grow and it grows fast. It likes the sun and plenty of water. It needs good drainage soil and needs regular fertilizing to bring about healthy growth and abundant bloom.
Water Jasmine is a tough, hardy plant and needs very little care if left to grow freely. Since it is a fast growing plant, it needs to be trimmed or pruned to shape it.
It has skinny branches and its leaves are thin and light green. If the soil is water logged or too dry, its leaves will turn yellow and drop off.
Water Jasmine has small white flowers and the flowers are in clusters.

The flowers face downwards. The flowers give out a sweet fragrant when in full bloom. The scent is specially strong in the evening and night.
There are many species of Wrightia Religiosa Benth. In my garden, I grow 3 pots of Water Jasmine or Sui Mui. I have 1 pot of single layered petal flowers and 2 pots of multiple layered petal flowers. The above picture is of the multiple layered petal flowers.
The above picture is of the single layered petal flowers.
When the plants are in full bloom, the flowers attract many butterflies.

Water Jasmine can be propagated by stem cuttings, suckers or by seeds. I grew my first plant from stem cuttings given by my church member. Now whenever I prune my plants, I will propagate a few plants to bless others.
When the flowers have bloomed, it will dry up and fall to the ground (like the above picture).
After the flowers have dried up, sometimes seed pods will form. The seed pods are green, and are in pairs. They are thin and long (circled in red).
As the seed pods matured, it will grow longer.

When the seed pods are totally dried up, it will burst open. The seeds will be carried by wind or drop on the ground.

The roots of Water Jasmine is claimed to have medicinal uses. It is used as a traditional treatment for skin diseases and stomach ache.
Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad.
Let my lover come into His garden and taste its choice fruits.
(Song of Songs 4:16, New International Version-NIV)

64 comments:

  1. I wish I could smell it! We have many jasmine scented perfumes and powders here, but real jasmine is hard to come by. Maybe because of our climate.

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    1. Yes Ginny, probably this plant cannot stand the cold.

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  2. Nancy, your beautiful and refreshing photos have made my day! I love Jasmine tea as well as the fragrance. :)

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  3. i can imagine how wonderful they smell!

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  4. You make me smell it!

    ALOHA from Honolulu
    ComfortSpiral
    =^..^=

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  5. Nancy, the flowers are so pretty!

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  6. Nancy, now you are the flower expert! I am totally hopeless in flowers!

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  7. I like the smell of this flower! Very sweet smelling.

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  8. I like this plant too, so elegant. Didn't know got multiple layered ones - those are nicer!

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    1. Hi Stacy, I like the multiple layered ones too.

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  9. Hi nancy, love the multi layer jasmine. Any seeds for sale?

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    1. Hello Chris, I propagated this plant through stem cuttings. Let the stem cuttings root in water before planting them. Sorry Chris, I do not keep the seeds and I have none for sale.

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  10. I live in Northeast Thailand ( Isan ) would you recommend that i place my water jasmine shrub , about 1.5m tall, in full sun ? Right now it is in the shade and blooms non-stop.

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    1. If your plant is happy and blooming non-stop in the shade, then maybe you should leave it where it is happy. The sudden change into the full, hot sun may cause an upset or shock to the plant and its leaves may turn yellow and fall off.

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  11. Would love to have this plant....it is beautiful!!'

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    1. Thank you, Maria. I love the nice scent too.

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  12. This is a lovely plant. I would love to have one. Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. This plant grows easily whether in shade or in full sun. But less flowers if in shade.

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  13. Hi Nancy, next time you prune your double flower jasmine may I ask for a cutting please?

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    1. Hi Sherri, I would love to give you the cuttings but where are you staying?

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  14. Lovely! thank you for sharing.

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  15. Hi Nancy, may I ask if you have any cutting from your multi petalled jasmine?

    Yvonne

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    1. Hi Yvonne, I can give you the cuttings but first we need to know how to pass the cuttings to you.

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    2. Hi Nancy, thank you! Would you mind to drop me an email and I can go and pick it up from you. My email is blueskylinx@gmail.com

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  16. Hi Nancy, great write up! This is so resourceful.. May I know if you will be blessing away any cutting? I'm looking to grow water jasmine. I'm staying at Khatib but willing to go over your side to pick up if you are alright. =) Thanks

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    1. Thank you, Eason. You can have some cuttings but where is Khatib?

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    2. Thanks in advance :) it's at Yishun area. But I can meet at your convenient place

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    3. Oh, is it in Singapore? I am staying in Perak, Malaysia. So sorry, it will be very inconvenient for you.

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  17. Oh! Yes. So silly me. I was googling for bonsai in Singapore and came to your blog, hence under such impression. :) but it was still a nice read. God bless you.

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  18. Hi Nancy. I am New Here. I use to have 1 Pot but it was loss 2 years ago.
    Please teach me how to let the stem cuttings root in water. As i have 2 cutting from my friend few month ago. i put it in the water, but it did not root and dry off. Is the stem which i cut too smell or something i do wrong? Thank you

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    1. Hi Kasdi, I don't know actually what happened to your cuttings. The cutting could be too tender. You may need to change the water regularly. From my experience not all cuttings will root successfully in the water. Some suggest using a rooting powder that you can buy from the plant nursery.

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  19. Hi Nancy, my water jasmine got waterlogged so I repot it to another type of soil. I prune away some of the roots as well. And now the plant is dying, all leave dropped. Can you advice me what went wrong :( Thanks

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    1. Hi Phoebe. I think your plant may survive. It could be due to its roots pruned away. Make sure the soil stays moist and it may recover after some time. Keep it away from direct sun until it starts to sprout new leaves. Water Jasmine plants are quite hardy plants and I hope yours will recover and grow well.

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  20. Hi Nancy,

    I just bought a pot of water jasmine and discovered many ants running around the plant. What should I do?
    Thanks in advance.

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    Replies
    1. You can get some ants powder to sprinkle on top of the soil. You can also check the bottom of the pot, sometimes the ants will build nest at the base of the soil inside the pot. Hope this is useful to get rid of the ants.

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  21. I grow then indoor as I live in QC, Canada and temp can get real cold from November till mid May. I grew them from seeds and nicely succeeded. I now have more than 20 plants of approx 8 inches high and would like to move them outdoor. What would be the best soil to transplant them ? I intend to prune them occasionally and give them a bushy look.

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  22. I started growing Mok Phuang from seeds and nicely succeeded (approx. 88%). I now have 20 plants of about 8 inches high and would like to move them outdoor for the summer. What would be the best soil to transplant them? I live in Qc, Canada and the temp can get very cold from November to mid May and therefor, I need to keep them in pots to facilitate their move back indoor in the Fall.

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    1. Sorry for the late reply. I did something to the comment setting and late comments didn't appear. As far as I know, the plants need plenty of sunlight and water. Need to feed the plants with flowering fertilizer for the plants to flower. As long as the soil has moderate drainage, it is good enough.

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  23. Hi, Nancy. I hope you read this since I realised this blog post is from a few years back. I have a water jasmine plant that had abundant flowers when I bought from the florist. But after the flowers bloomed and dropped, it's been slightly more than a month and no new buds. There are new leaves which I've pruned off as I don't want it to grow to big. What can I do to get it to flower?

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    Replies
    1. Hello, sorry for such a late reply (Your comment didn't appear due to my comment setting). It needs plenty of sunlight, regular feeding of fertilizer for flowers, daily water, soil with moderate drainage.

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  24. Hi Nancy & friends,
    You may be interested to learn the art of bonsai creation at the Malaysian Bonsai & Suiseki society clubhouse at 95, Jalan Rukun 5, Taman Gembira, Kuala Lumpur. Free lessons are held every Sunday from 10 am onwards.

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    1. Thank you for the invitation. Not able to because I am not in KL.

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  25. Replies
    1. Very easy and simple. Just cut any of the younger woody stem and stick them directly into the soil or you can soak the cuttings in water until you see roots growing out before planting them.

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  26. Hi Nancy
    I have a pot of water jasmine. Trimmed and pruned the leaves. Initially, there are small leaves sproutng out but they turned yellow and dropped off. What's wrong?

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    1. Could be too much water. I hope your plant is doing well now.

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  27. Hi Nancy Chan...I am from Malaysia...I like to visit your site...Thank You for sharing your knowledge in planting...Wish you All The Best....always Healthy and Happy...with LOVE from Malaysia (Chinese)

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    1. Thank you, Ali. I am also from Malaysia. I am glad you like visiting my site. Take care and stay safe.

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  28. Hi, does anyone know if this plant is toxic to cats ? Thanks !

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    1. Sorry, I can't help you here because I don't know if it is toxic to cats. I don't keep pets and these plants are planted outside my house.

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  29. Hi Nancy, lovely to read abt yr sui meis. My sis gave me a plant wch had long droopy stems with leaves n bunches of flowers. I watered too much (i learnt) n all d leaves fell off. Now i regulate watering to when soil feels dry n tiny leaves are sprouting. Shd i cut away all the long thin stems tt are bare? Thank you.

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    Replies
    1. If you like, you can trim off the long thin stems for new ones to sprout out.

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