Sweet Tea Olive - Osmanthus fragrans

    It's super sweet perfume is almost like a gardenia, yet light & crisp, with floral notes of citrus, melon and apple....no it's not your favorite wine.  This is the Sweet Tea Olive, osmanthus fragrans, my all time #1 favorite scent in the garden.  Now this scent isn't for everyone... it's almost indescribable but once you smell it you'll never forget it.  The first time I smelled one of these rare South Florida beauties, I searched high & low to find one.  Ok, so one wasn't enough, I now have three, hee hee.   The small flowers are a wedding dress white, with soft supple petals that grow in clusters all over the shrub.  My sweet tea olive's bloom all year round; one day there is nothing and the next a "scent-sational" surprise, lol!  It's truly amazing how these little flowers can really pack a punch in the scent department.  Now the shrub on the other hand is very demure, modest and slow growing by nature.  Some use the awful word "leggy" though I like to say "long limbed" when describing this shrub.   Unless the sweet tea olive is in bloom, it is usually overlooked in the garden.  It's best used within the landscape rather than a stand-alone show piece.  They can be planted in full sun or part sun/part shade with well drained soil but needs regular watering or the leaf tips will burn brown & the foliage will drop.  Sweet tea olive is sure to sooth every gardener and passer-by with it's aromatherapy.

One of my three sweet tea olive's in
full bloom right now.

A closer view of the open upright growing
habit of the sweet tea olive. 

The sweet tea olive's flower clusters have
a super "scent-sational" aroma that fills the
air and perfumes the brain.

The flowers grow right on the branch.

This is another one of my sweet tea olive's
& it has a completely different character
& growing habit than the other two, but
none-the-less blooms like crazy, go figure!

This little sweet tea olive is my first one I
bought.  Turns out for the same price as the others
two & they are twice the size.  The more available
plants become the prices become more affordable. :)

    As I sit here in my home office writing the finale to this blog, the deliciously sweet scent is wafting in through the open windows making a wonderful Saturday morning.  Happy Gardening Everyone!!! xoxo

January garden delights

     This year has been super busy so far, between work ( our company www.creativespacesfl.com ), our garden and personal life.  Though I am so happy that all is going well this year.  How has your 2012 been?  Hopefully going great!  With a positive attitude, lots of hope and a connective community conscious we all can make a difference in the direction our politicians take and the decisions they make.  Since this is an election year, we need to start with the local politicians.  Bend their ears about the issues important to you and let them to go to Capital Hill to work the higher up's for support, after all they are elected officials.  Ok, with that little tid bit said, on to the good stuff, lol. ;)

     This morning I walked out to enjoy this glorious 'way-to-warm-for-this-time-of-year' day and was pleasantly surprised to see some wonderful colors and smells emerging in our garden.  The first is a small but potently sweet smelling orchid called, Encyclia cordigera/species- syn. Epidendrum atropurpureum; born September 2003.

Encyclia cordigera/species-
syn. Epidendrum atropurpureum 

About 3 inch flowers, super cool colors and amazingly
soft sweet scent but so thick you can smell it 10ft away.

Encyclia cordigera/species-syn. Epidendrum atropurpureum
This little orchid is mounted in my Beautyberry bush.

My Watermelon Palm, Chambeyronia macrocarpa, or some may call it a Flamethrower Palm, I bought from Tropical Gardens of Maui about 6 or 7 years ago.  It came wrapped in damp newspaper and was so little....now look at this amazing but very slow growing beauty!  I had them in pots at first, lost one then put this one in the ground.  It has thrived ever since.  They definitely grow better as an understory palm but the fronds seem to get much redder with full sun.

Watermelon Palm, 
Chambeyronia macrocarpa 

A close up of my Watermelon Palm, it's not at red as it usually it
 but in winter it doesn't get as much sun as the summer time.
Though you can see how spectacular the new leaf color is
compared to the older green ones.  The trunk also has a dappled green color to it like the outside of a watermelon.

A close up of the new Watermelon Palm frond.

See you all tomorrow out in the garden!  Have a wonderful weekend!!! xoxo

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year everyone!!!  Oky, so I'm a little late in ringing in the new year but better later than never, lol.  Wishing all of you many days of wonderful enjoyment, no stress, love of family and friends, good health and prosperity to those of us that are struggling financially.  May 2012 be much better than 2011!!!

Heureuse Nouvelle Année!
Happy New Year from our garden to yours!!
Sheri