I have resisted branching out into these plants and quietly been reading your posts with one eye closed so as not to be too tempted. Amazingly, I find I grow quite a few of the plants being posted here. I love the fragrant plants and think of the hot tropical nights with the fragrance of blooming plants wafting thru the air...
I wonder what suggestions y'all might have from fragrant tropical bloomers please? Any fragrant foliages? Pictures would be enjoyed but not necessary. TIA pod
Fragrant Tropical suggestions?
the first that come to mind for me are night blooming jasmine (cestrum nocturnum), brugmansias, jasmines-these are always reliable bloomers and smell great.
Then you get into plants like plumerias that are not as reliable a bloomer in the colder zones
If you want fragrant foliage, I'd look to things like Salvia. You don't generally smell those unless you brush up against them though, so I don't know if that's what you're looking for. S. dorisiana is my favorite--it has a sort of fruity-sagey smell to it.
There are probably some species of Jasminum that would be hardy in your area so you could grow them outdoors year round. Then there are the fake jasmines, like confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) and Cestrum nocturnum which would also be hardy for you and have a powerful fragrance. And there are always gardenias...I'm not sure how those do in the TX heat but I think I've seen some people from TX growing them so there must be some cultivars that do OK.
Do you have a place to overwinter things? If you've got a greenhouse then that opens up tons more possibilities for you--I'd recommend browsing around the Fragrant Gardening forum for some inspiration. You might wander over there anyway even if you don't have a greenhouse, there's discussion of some less tropical fragrant plants there too.
My favorite is the yesterday-today-tomorrow plant (brunfelsia). I bought one and kept it on my deck all summer, then brought it in for the winter in a sunny window. It never bloomed outside, but it did inside! Blooms start out dark blue, then fade to light blue and finally white, and they perfumed my whole house.
From the Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin, by Chip Tynan...these are "for the competent gardener who enjoys a challenge...wonderful fragrance and are potential windowsill plants with the right touch."
Jasminum sambac
Mitriostigma axillare (I've killed one of these)
Murraya paniculata (easy)
Osmanthus fragrans ("...the most sophisticated fragrance of an flowering plant...")
Gardenia jasminoides
FWIW
Kristie,
RJuddharrison, Randy, is an expert on tropicals and his garden is unbelievable. He has many, many fragrant plants and will share his knowledge and cuttings in a heartbeat. If you go to his journal/diary you will be overwhelmed. Check the threads he has started. He is in Tropicals and Tropical Gardens most of the time but also gives lots of advice in the Texas Forum. BTW he lives in Houston and your climate is much more temperate than Houston. If you get into the tropicals, girl, you are hooked. It is amazing when you start looking around and realize just how much we have that is definitely tropical. Preparing a place to plant the generous seeds you sent to me. Probably wait a couple of more weeks.
Christi
davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/779618/#new
Placentiarita and Texasbigleaves live very close to me not 20 miles from downtown Dallas. Definitely not a tropical paradise...unless you follow their threads. You just won't believe it. There are many threads so you have some catching up do. hahaha
Enjoy,
Christi
Ginger lilies, almond bush, daphne are some not mentioned yet that will be fine in your zone.
Barb
My very first favorite would be Rangoon Creeper vine.
My 2nd is Brugmansia Maya, even the neighbors know when they are blooming.
I have to agree with Zarebeth the Yesterday, today and tomorrow plant are very fragrant too. All of the above mentioned plants are not cold hardy in my zone 8a .
LouC ~ you are the one that got me in trouble ~ lol ~ encouraging me to sneak a tropical peek. 8 )
I have two different YTTs ~ Brunfelsia, but not sure of the varieties. They are fragrant but bloom for only a month in spring. Is that normal or do I need to tweak their care and nurturing?
Is Almond bush possibly the same as Almond Verbena? I have heard Daphne IS wonderful. Is it a winter bloomer? I also picked up an Osmanthus fragrans or sweet olive last year. It has buds right now and as insignificant as the blooms are, the fragrance does make up for it! I also have a few Brugs and a couple of jasmines ~ Maid of Orleans and Confederate but I may have to consider the Cestrum nocturnum. Gardenias have not been successful in my care. I also kept a Stephanotis floribunda for quite a few years but it was more like S. NOfloribunda. It became huge and remained bloomless so I shipped it. I was disappointed.
Ecrane ~ thanks for the Salvia foliage suggestion, I wouldn't have thought of that as a tropical. Although I did acquire an El Butano which has a really pungent smell. I do peruse the Fragrant Gardening forum and enjoy it also, thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks all for the ideas on all these tropical plants. I will need to do some research on your suggestions. Any more ideas will be appreciated. Thanks...
not really tropical, one of the many varieties of the very fragrant, Southern Magnolia magnolia grandiflora
You people are just terrible, enablers all of you. I just checked Brunfelsia and it is fantastic, now I have to have one.
I have a favorite, other than my brugs, Bouvardia longiflora. Just 3 flowers opening up at night fills my living room with such a pure sweet smell and when more than 3 open the whole house smells wonderful.
Now that one I have not heard of... speaking of terrible! LOL
I bought one last year from Logee's. I love it.
http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=R1099-2
Odd, I get their catalogue (and order from them) but hadn't noticed it. The boom favors the Stephanotis floribunda.
The fragrance is unbelievable, the blooms are about the size of that picture maybe a little larger. The smell is like a cross of brug and iris. Large smell for such small flowers.
I agree, the Bouvardia is one of my favorites too. I'm pretty sure Logees is the only place I've ever seen it.
I also like a couple of the more tropical Brunfelsias...B. jamaicensis and B. grandiflora (I think...will have to doublecheck the species on that last one) I think they're more fragrant than B. pauciflora which is the more common (and hardier) yesterday-today-tomorrow plant. But their flowers start white and stay white, so you don't get the fun color change thing.
I love the Southern Magnolia but oddly have never smelled the fragrance. I am afraid I have no room for that one but wish I did.
Is there a particular Magnolia that is more fragrant?
Pod, the Banana Shrub, which is in the Magnolia family, smells heavenly! I've seen it listed as a Michelia and a Magnolia. Top Tropicals has it listed as both. Mine is just starting to bloom and I could just camp out next to it!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1187/
Ecrane, I agree about the S. dorisiana, I love that plant, it is my favorite Salvia!!! It's blooming right now too.
Cathy
Uh Oh, I am going to have to put that Bouvardia on my wants list. The B. Ternifolia does really well here but I have never noticed a scent.
It was already mentioned but the gingers all smell wonderful to me, day or night, and there are so many of them in so many different colors and shapes.
My reference books say B. ternifolia lacks the fragrance of the B longiflora so you aren't mistaken on the scent. And, I agree, I have a butterfly ginger which is marvelous at night and blooms during the hottest of summer. I love it!
I never have seen a Michelia bloom. I was given two banana plants? One a dwarf and one regular. They didn't do much but die down like the cannas each winter. No blooms, I don't know if that is what they were. Gave them both away... Now, I need to do more research!
Hmmmm, Michelias are shrubs and while I guess it is possible they could lose their leaves it is certainly unlikely in your climate. When I lived in 8a I had them and they were evergreens.
My mistake ~ there I go just assuming... that means it is different from the banana plants I was given. Does it deliver blooms over a long time?
LOL, now I see the mistake, banana shrub/banana plant.
I have a Michelia that blooms in early spring and lasts for about 2 months then it blooms sporadically, a flower here and there, over the summer and fall. There are many different varieties out there now, I bet some are longer blooming than others.
Wonderful scent however.
There are a number of different Michelias, but M. figo the banana shrub is the hardiest of the bunch. Most of the other ones like M. champaca and M. alba (which both smell gorgeous by the way) are more tropical and I doubt if they'd survive outdoors in zone 8. I have another one, Michelia x foggii which is definitely hardy in zone 9 and has beautiful smelling flowers, but I'm not sure if it would work in zone 8 or not. It's got a pretty short bloom time though, as far as I can tell it just blooms once in the spring and then it's done.
M. alba. Looks a little like M. figo but the scent is nothing like it.
Here are a couple more of the ones above. B longiflora
J nitidium
That's beautiful. Ok I have this bug or something on mine. I will get a picture of it tomorrow when I get the camera from my daughter. It is like a little worm inside this white fuzzy little cacoon and it leaves a sticky substance all over. The leaves have brown spots on them what could this be? I have never had anything like it before. I am constantly wiping these things off with a q-tips in alcohol.
Aglaia odorata
Sounds like mealybugs to me.
Stephanotis floribunda
Another favorite smelly plant of mine is Buddleja asiatica--it's a winter bloomer and has the most gorgeous fragrance. I'm not sure what zone it's hardy to--it made it through our week of lows in the high teens/low 20's (F) last winter, that stopped it from blooming temporarily but the plant itself wasn't damaged at all. So I'd guess based on that it's good at least to 9a, any colder than that and the plant may survive but you'll probably lose the blooms which are really the only reason to grow it in the first place. A word of caution though, it gets absolutely huge--mine grew about 10-12 feet this year (although it's all pretty weak growth and it got knocked over in a windstorm this winter) In a container it may grow a bit slower though.
Plant files say 8a on that one, I would have to bring it inside for the winter here. Don't think I would want it to be as big as yours then.
Now the Stephanotis floribunda makes me envious. Wonder why mine didn't bloom. The bloom of the J. nitidium is lovely too.
I've been doing spring cleaning and some re-landscaping, and one plant I wouldn't have thought of, I found on the side of the green house lost amongst the EE's and vnes, and how it survived 3 years, which was last I remember tossing it there.. I'll never know...but I picked up the pot of cardigan gingers and the fragrance was really nice! I kept stuffing my nose in them...
This message was edited Feb 11, 2008 10:04 PM
This message was edited Feb 11, 2008 10:05 PM
Abuse and neglect ~ maybe that's why the S. floribunda didn't bloom for me. Cardigan ginger is a new one on me. Off to do research.
isn't that the truth. I think I'll set a few more plants over there!
Rjudd ~ does that mean you are moving the plants out of the greenhouse already?
I'm all ears, Randy. Hope the ginger is big enough to take a start. I shall be greedy now and want one or two or three of everything I can get. heheheh
Christi
Some of the fragrants I have growing in my garden and love are-
white butterfly ginger - I love to tuck a flower behind my ear while gardening
Kewense ginger-smells like honey to me
michelia alba
Aloysia virgata- Blooms almost year round for me and it extremely fragrant
Osmanthus fragrans- I love the way these smell!!!!
night blooming jasmine
I have others but these are some of my favorites!!
I can't get enough fragrant plants.