Poor man's rope

Hello, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In the past, yellow jessamine seemed to bloom along with Asian azaleas, people even planned trips to the south to see that spectacle. This year, it’s way early, maybe next year they’ll be in sync. The seeds are happy to germinate wherever they land and actually it can make a tangle in shrub borders and hedges. If you’ve tried to pull it out by the roots, you’ll understand the nickname “poor man’s rope” as it’s a slender vine but, as my predecessor Rowland Austin would say, "tough as train smoke." It can clamor up pine trees, and the contrast of yellow flowers and shiny pine needles is lovely. I’ve seen beautiful and not unfriendly seeming fences when homeowners have erected brick pillars with yellow jessamine covering hog wire separating them.