Fragrant garden 4/Wow does that Jasmine smell good!

Confederate Jasmine

 Trachelospermum jasminoides

This is a departure from the fragrant herbs, but our fence at the end of the driveway is covered with  pale creamy yellow small Confederate Jasmine blooms this week. It is beautiful  and fragrant.
Confederate Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides is not a true jasmine, but I'm glad to have it on my fence. It is a lovely evergreen vine and   I think that Birmingham is on the Northern end of its range, so it needs to be in a South facing location. It likes a bit of shade as well.  The sun heating the concrete driveway probably helps keep it warmer in the winter. We have had it for about seven years and it has totally covered  half of the fence.  I keep the roots really well mulched. If we ever have an extremely cold winter again, it may die back.  In the deep South, it needs to have more shade. It can use some pruning to keep it under control if you have a smaller area, or it gets too thick.  I have two climbing roses on the fence as well, and need to keep it trimmed back  away from them.

The lovely smell of the blossoms always reminds of our trip to India in the mid-nineties when we traveled to the wedding of our dear friend Faizal.  There were jasmine blossoms hung on the wedding pavilion and all of the ladies had jasmine in our hair.  A little bit of heaven.

Faizal's family live in a small village in the State of Kerala. I was entranced by their garden.  I had never seen pepper growing before.  The pepper grows in long thin pods.  The soil there was red, like the soil in the Southern US , and the trees in the garden were all planted down in a bowl shaped indentation with a small berm around them.  I assumed that this was to take advantage of the rain during the monsoon season.  There is a distinct wet and dry season there. I was entranced by all of the large leaved tropical plants.  Many different kinds of bananas and plantains grow there, and we were given a small banana at the end of every meal to "aid in digestion". It does.

Faizal's family were very kind hosts and one afternoon his family treated us to a traditional meal served on large banana leaves.  There were many different kinds of sauces and stews and we sat on the floor with a leaf in front of us and made small balls of rice with our hands which were then dipped in the sauces and stews.  It was all very delicious and lots of fun.  Many of the dishes were spicy , so they also served a sauce made from cucumbers and yogurt to cool the palate. Another wonderful experience.

Our trip to India and the colorful and lovely wedding is one of my favorite memories.

Susan