Hi,

Last fall we bought a house, and one of the former owners had done a
lot with the landscaping. In the front of the house is a peculiar
shrub that is now blooming. The flowers are about an inch wide, white
and smell like jasmine. However, the photos I've found on the internet
show jasmine as having five or more elongated petals, e.g.,
http://www.gardenguides.com/flowers/art1/jasmine.jpg
Doing a search on images.google.com for "jasminium" didn't yield a
photo of my shrub. I have several gardening books that don't list it
either. Perhaps it's not a jasmine at all -- it sure SMELLS like
jasmine!

My shrub has flowers with exactly four, rounded petals that are mostly
flat, and the stamen are very visible. The flowers are about an inch
wide, and appear in groups of 5 or so at the end of new growth. The
shrub has woody stems (last year's growth), is not a vine, and has to
survive the bitter winters here in Montreal (-25 deg Celcius). The
leaves are simple, opposite-branching, light green, and have fine
teeth aiming away from the stem (you have to look closely to see
them). They fall off in the fall, as the shrub is not an evergreen.
It's currently about a meter wide, and almost two meters high. It has
been strangely pruned over the years it appears.

I could put a photo up on the net eventually, if this description
isn't enough.

I would ultimately like to identify the bush so that I can know how
best to prune and care for it. Its shape is strange now, from lack of
proper upkeep--it was pruned to make space for the walkway it would
appear. A neighbor told me that it used to have more blooms many years
ago. Perhaps it needs fertilizing as well.

Regards,

Cris