Sweet Olive Tree question

I fell in love with the scent of this tree when in Louisiana many, many years back. I have tried growing them and have not had much luck. However, yesterday I found a pretty good sized one for a good price at my local nursery. It was blooming and I actually got to smell those wonderful blossoms. My question is whether to try to plant in full sun, which can be pretty devastating here, or would some shade hurt the plant? I have more places that are part sun/part shade than full sun and most things do pretty well because full sun is a little too much. Any help appreciated. I want this thing to grow and smell great for a long, long time.

Thanks

Leslie

If I may... I understand the full sun requirement for a plant is not totally acceptable in Texas full sun.

I would plant this where it will receive afternoon shade or what I call high shade (bright light). This is why it is usually planted as a foundation plant but be aware of space as it can become large. If planted in full sun, the leaves may become discolored. I have kept mine potted for a year till I decided where to plant it. Hope to get it in ground this spring.

Plant it where you will enjoy the fragrance... near an outdoor seating area, a walkway, a window you like to open....

Thanks Podster. I think I have found a good spot for it, will have room, gets some sun but not all day and it is where I can enjoy the beautiful scent. I have been sniffing it for two days now, I am addicted. I am just so thrilled I found the thing.

Thanks for the advice.

Leslie

Good luck with it. I hope to plant mine in ground soon. It has been potted for a year now.

I like the clean fresh scent of the blooms but it is not as strong as I had anticipated. You have to be very near to catch a whiff.

It is one of those strange fragrances that drift around the garden in rivers of perfume (like heliotrope) and you will catch it out of the blue while walking around the place ...to me it smells of the sweetest apricot /peach ...love it.Mine is in morning Sun and afternoon shade and thrives in that position.
chrissy

Good description of the fragrance Chrissy...

Podster,just wait until it grows. Mine is about 8-10 feet and I can smell it quite a ways away...but not always, thats the weird part.A still afternoon/evening is the best.

You know, I have noticed most of the fragrant plants are more so at dusk or early morning. It is always a pleasant surprise when I step out the door and catch a whiff of fragrance.

Pod ... I'm disappointed in mine also. My sister had one where she use to live, and I fell in love with hers. When I started buying fragrant plants, this was one of the first things to go in the ground. It blooms, and if you put your nose in it ... it does smell good, but I remembered hers smelling sooo much better. I've wondered if I was doing something wrong, or if this was just not a top quality shrub. What do you fertilize yours with?

Here is mine. Planted about 11 years ago from a 1 gallon can.

Maybe I just need to be a bit more patient!! I've only had mine for 3 or 4 years. ^_^

I have to say that this is the first year I REALLY smelled it. Smells like a room full of ripe apricots to me. And like I said above, it still isnt constant. But when it hits it makes its so wrth the wait. So much so that I have now begun a plant to purchase all known species of Osmanthus. Beginning with two O. delavayi I just got at work!

I don't fertilize with anything special. It is still biding its' time in a pot. I am waiting for work to get done at our house so the workers don't tromp all over this plant. Mine is about 3 feet tall. I wonder if size or being established has some bearing on this trees' fragrance.

Wow plantmum. I can only hope I live to see mine look like that. I am still at the stage where I have to specifically locate a bloom and sniff. But it is worth it. Although I too remember when I first smelled it in Louisiana it seemed like I was just walking by and got a great whiff of it. Hopefully mine will turn out that way but I am willing to sniff the flowers for awhile because to me there is no better scent.

I have one of these in a pot, I'm shocked at how large plantmum's is. I live in Massachusetts, so I have to keep it in a pot. But that's even better, because it blooms all winter long, and I keep it in front of my French doors in my bedroom and it perfumes the whole room. Mine's a couple years old and only about 2.5 ft tall. I assume by keeping it in a pot, it will naturally stay smaller. Anyone else growing it in a pot?

Here's one more photo of the blossoms, I had trouble focusing this one, even with the camera set to micro.

Hmmm, I had a friend call me the other day talking about her neighbors and asking me if I had one ... she knows I grow fragrant shrubs and flowers. I told her I do have one. I didn't tell her that mine is sitting there not doing a thing. :-( Wonder why? Makes me want another one!

I love my Tea Olive.....for those of you that are having problems with no blooms or a small amount of blooms it may be the type you have....I purchased the regular Tea Olive last year and loved the smell...It did bloom but was on and off through the year, then I heard about Osmanthus fragrans "Fudingzhu", apparently this one blooms alot more....I found it online and ordered one. It has been blooming pretty much continuously since I purchased it. I'm hooked on this one now it's just not widely found and the one I got was about $16 but minimum 2 order plus shipping - so not cheap. However I am wanting to purchase at least another 6 to put around my yard (in pots) just for the smell...I love it that much! I have the common one in the ground and the Fudingzhu in a pot on my lanai.....when I walk out there in the evening you can smell the whole lanai has the fragrance, to me it's not overpowering at all....it's like a perfume that you catch a waft of now and again and you find yourself trying to sniff it out...hehe

I have one I planted 10 yrs ago just outside my garage door and it smells up the whole neighborhood, especially late in the afternoon, they bloom real heavy in the spring and off and on all summer here in La. They do better in Pt shade, as so many things in this awful "hot" weatther. sun is good, but plants are kinda like people tooooo much sun and dry weather can do them in...so give them a little shade.

astcgirl - where did you get the Osmanthus fragrans "Fudingzhu" at? I'm sitting thinking.....I NEEEEDDDD one....

Chantell you beat me....yes it was www.nurcar.com where i got it from. Minimum order of 2 but well worth it, plus they have so many other fragrant plants in there (no pics though so you have to google lots of names to find out what they are, or do a search and find for fragrance) believe me you'll get that min 2 order very quickly!

I'd drooled over that site last year...forgotten about it until now...mercy!!!

Drooling here, too. :)

I guess I have the common one, not the fancy fung.....whatever. My common one is quite fragrant, can't imagine how much better the fung.....whatever can be. but I want one!

Too bad we didn't live near one another...we could all do a group purchase...cut down on s/h and min orders.... :(

well, what are ya waiting for???? come on down! bring the baby

P-A-R-T-Y at Nery's house!!!! Now by "baby" do you mean Chloe or the Rottie? ROTFLOL

bring 'em both

God love the friend that invites BOTH the grandbaby and problem grandpup....

Hey, y'all could meet up in GA. :)

Shipping might be less...LOL...ahhhh GA a middle locale

I think sweet olives need exactly the right conditions for their fragrance to be released. I have a potted one on my patio. Year before last, though it was quite small and didn't have many blossoms, yet on some days its fragrance was apparent within about 20 feet. This last year it had many blooms and not once did I smell it at a distance. Even if I put the flowers to my nose, I could detect some slight fragrance on only some days. The only difference is that I moved the pot to a slightly shadier location. I think the temperature, humidity, wind and sun exposure have to be just right for them to release fragrance. In particular, that some afternoon sun is needed to volitalize their perfume and the right humidity and a slight breeze help drift it around.