We planted three one-gallon sized star jasmine plants in our back yard about three weeks ago. We made sure to place them in full sunlight, and we watered them every day, to ensure that the soil did not dry out (it’s been pretty hot here in Orange County for the past month or so). When we obtained the plants, they were in a pretty good state of blossom, and they smelled up the back of the car quite nicely. The plants appear to still have about the same number of flowers, the leaves look good and healthy, and tendrils are beginning to climb higher than the stakes (which I left in when I planted them).
The problem is that no new flowers seem to be appearing, and the flowers that are there aren’t putting out any fragrance, to speak of. The original planting was performed with Miracle-Gro Garden soil, so I can’t think of any plant food needs that may not be getting met. Now, we have had some success in prior years, with spreading each morning’s coffee grounds over the soil with marigolds, gerbera daisies, ginger, and gardenias.
Is there any reason we might want to keep the coffee grounds away from star jasmine, or is that a positive, or at least neutral additive? Also, I’m wondering if we should remove the stakes, and let them start propagating as ground cover now, or should we wait until they show definite signs of being successful? And when we do convert them from vertical to horizontal growth, should we simply allow them to overrun the grass that’s already there, or is it better to clear out as much sod as we can manage, with the result that the ground cover will stop where the grass begins (I know nasturtiums don’'t care what they’re overrunning, do jasmines)?
Any ideas that can be posted that may result in heavily flowered, heavily-scented jasmine as our primary backyard ground cover, will be greatly appreciated.