Pikake

Aloha! I’m Pikake, a beautiful, fragrant flower, and a symbol of love and affection in Hawaiian culture. I can be a little high maintenance at times, and growing me requires regular watering, fertilizing, and pruning, but the elegance I’ll bring to any garden makes it all worthwhile.

About me:

I’m a broadleaf evergreen shrub, one of twelve jasminum species, and grow up to 6 ft tall and 2-3 ft wide with gorgeous white flowers. They were Princess Kaiulani’s favorite, so she named me pikake after ‘peacock,’ the bird she loved. In the USA mainland I’m known as Arabian jasmine.

Likes:

Warm sunny days - I grow best in full sun and I like daytime temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees

Summer’s my favorite season; I love the long hot days and not too cold nights (anything below 70 means I won’t produce as many flowers). I don’t grow flowers at all from November to January, I mean, everyone deserves a break for the holidays, right?

Occupation:

Other countries like India, Thailand, China, and the Philippines use my flowers to make perfume and flavoring for tea.

In Hawaii, my flowers are used in leis and I’m an eye-catching feature of lots of gardens, hopefully yours next!