Yeah Roberta - I was thinkin' of moving her closer to the window...although she was doing fine on my back deck this summer which would be filtered sun to shade...who knows...keeping fingers crossed.
Vi - here ya go (ignore any typos):
"This is a rare shrub variety and it begins to bloom in late winter. Oh, come on! No way! yes, it is true. My plants began to bloom late last Feb. even while snow was on the ground! The beautiful but small white or translucent flowers are produced in numerous clusters. They release into the frigid air a stupendously strong lemon or lily perfume. It took me by surprise since I could not figure out where that lemon fragrance was coming from until I finally tracked it down. I forget each year that this plant blooms at a most unusually time. It continues to bloom until mid May. It grows to over 6' tall but prune after flowering to make a more compact bush. Hardy from zones 4 to 9. UPDATE: I need to point out that the growth habit of this honeysuckle is rather unusual when planted and grown the first year. The main shoots grow out horizontally near the ground when they are young. BUT during the following year the new growth grows upright. confused? Grow this shrub and you will eventually understand. Make sure to give this shrub extra room for it can become tall and wide if not pruned back after flowering. Prune to any desirable size but after pruning leave it alone for the flower buds form on the new growth during the summer and early fall." Copyright Glenn Varner, Flower Scent Gardens 2007
Parte Cuatro: Breathe deep & tell us what smells wonderful..
Thanks kiddo! You heard it, cuttings in May!
paperwhites! i hope inside counts altho outside i have a winter honeysuckle as well. i have not heard of Kartuz...anyone have the webb address? actually, i have sweet violets blooming right now too. they are frozen solid this a.m. but when they thaw they will keep going, bless their petals.
It's www.kartuz.com
Rose - here's our Watchdog's page on them: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/167/ and here's the vendor's actual site: http://www.kartuz.com/
thanks! thanks!
Hello all. I hope you are all keeping warm and cozy and sniffing those lovely winter annuals that I can only dream about. Although I got a small flush from my Brunfelsia jamaicensis, the weather was too rainy today to enjoy it very much.
I finally got a chance to snap a picture of the shaving brush tree I have mentioned every now and then. The flowers only last a day. I can smell this when there are many blooming on the tree and the scent carries in the air, or if I am lucky enough to catch one that is on a lower branch.
Wow, very interesting plant there F4F! I have to look it up on plantfiles....what's the fragrance like?
Rob- look for Pachira aquatica in the plantfiles. I couldn't get a sniff of it this weekend because there was only one, but maybe now that it is full of buds I will get a chance to soon. I don't remember enough to describe it, I just remembered it smelled sweet and really good.
OH a photographers dream F4F...I love it!!!
And guess what all?!?!? DD bought me a grafted Michelia x alba for Christmas...am I excited or what??? Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated!!! I know they sell much higher but she paid a nice little amt for this so i want to do my best with it!!
This message was edited Dec 15, 2008 11:20 PM
F4F....you won't believe this...now that I saw your tree at plantfiles...I realize there are TONS of these in Brazil! I never really paid attention or new they were fragrant...how large is yours?? I thought they needed to be huge to bloom like that!
Chantell...what a wonderful present you got there! Nice!
Chantell! Congratulations- what a great scent. I would say for overwintering give it as much light as you can.
Rob- I was wondering when you would recognize my flower, LOL! Here is our tree. When they are planted near water they get even larger with buttress roots.
Wow, how nice...I wish I had room for all the trees I wante, LOL!!!
I got a chance to sniff one of the shaving brush flowers today- although I did not go back out at night to see if the scent got more intense. It smelled like Oriental lily meets honeysuckle, but the scent was very light, not at all "heady" as you would expect from the combination of those 2 original scents! But, it can be more intoxicating when there is enough to carry in the wind, and I did smell it during the daytime, and it is supposed to get more intense at night.
Now THAT sounds like an awesome scent...!!!
Got my Michelia x alba in -- 35" from soil to top...amazing...now please dear Lord let in continue to thrive in my care...she paid more then I would for a plant...although $26 is pretty darn good I think!!
here is one of my sweet almond verbenas. Such a delicious fragrance. Yesterday I spent 2 hours weeding the bed where this particular one is planted and the chore was quite bearable as I kept enjoying delicious whafts of SAB.
I grow SAB as shrubs and training one as a standard. I have found it hard/impossible to propagate.
Must be nice...I think I'll head out and do some clean up as well...since we've got an hour or so of light remaining. One of the sweet olives that came in is blooming in my bathroom - LOL The Osmanthus fragrans "Fudingzhu" - here's a macro shot of its bloom. My dwarf Ylang-Ylang arrived the other day...such differing opinions on the scent of that....guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Sigh.....need ya'lls good vibes tonight...........
I have a few pictures I have been keeping in mind for you guys. Go figure, Christmas week I had nothing in bloom- absolutely nothing! But, it was wonderful, had great friends over- much to be thankful for.
Here is the lime tree in bloom.
I hope I didn't already post a picture of the last flush- Miss Audrey Hepburn...........
This is just our yee old pink noid, but this bloom was particularly magnificant tonight.
Gorgeous baby's F4F so jealous you have those brugs still blooming for you. Mine are naked babies...LOL Do the lime blooms have much of a scent?
Oh, yes. Nearly all citrus do. Not quite the same as a classic orange blossom scent, but when you got up close was very very sweet and nice.
OK, I don't want to go totally bruggie on you guys, but I have to say out of the 3 or 4 new ones I've gotten to experience recently, this one's scent rocks. It is my new fav. (until the ten million others I have begin to bloom???) This is "Orange Sunshine"- a great bruggie for those that are willing to overwinter, too, as it is a good candidate for containers and begins to flower when small.
Sounds wonderful F4F.....have to add that to my wish list for next year....I think I went a bit overboard on the last co-op...I have about 20 rooting right now....I can't wait till they all bloom.
Love your "Orange Sunshine's" blooms, nice coloring.
Yes you guessed the question....F4F what is the scent like i.e. spicy, fruity, sweet???? You know I LOVE the spiciness of my Charles Grimaldi!!!! I really like the color on that "Orange Sunshine" - different from all the pinks and yellows I've acquired...ugh
Hmmm. I sniffed and sniffed. I had an impression last night, but may not be one you are impressed with. You know how I've decribed that in those plants that we love to sniff but that are also poisonous that I feel like I can isolate a bit of a toxic smell to them? This bruggie had no trace of that for me. There was another quality too. I tried all evening in between raking and gathering eggs to figure it out. Best I could come up with is something like one of those sniffy magic markers I used to have in second grade. Not one of my connoisseur moments I'm afraid......
haha! I love the markers smell! But...I can't assimilate it with brugs, lol! It's now on my wishlist too!
sniffy magic markers?? Dang, we didn't have neat stuff when I was a kid eons ago ;>{ The meaning is so lost on me--are you saying the markers actually had good scents?
Pretty Brug tho!
Yes they all had different scents i.e. yellow=lemon etc.
Something wrong though when you encouraging kids to sniff markers...who was the rocket scientist behind that any way?
This message was edited Jan 14, 2009 9:32 PM
LOL! Creating a habit from early on, hehe
You guys crack me up! I'm soooooo glad there are still folks with a sense of humor. Brunfelsia jamaicnensis is in bloom today as well as 'Sharry Baby' orchid. Took this moonflower pic the other evening.
Very tired today......just quickly checking in. Chantell, you'll be happy to know those darn customers kept me too busy to go shopping. But, at least my boss had a great opportunity to "see" all the relationships I've got in place! Hope everyone is warm and well.
Now come on F4F - I wouldn't describe it as "happy" exactly...I mean I'd be happy FOR you if you got some great stuff...truly I would. However showing off that moonflower - now that's a different story. I swear I'm the only DGer that can't seem to get a moonflower bloom or butterfly ginger...they grow alright...but no BLOOMS...I think it's a curse! LOL Good for you though re clients and boss - that's the way to show him. I look at building a good rapport, whether it be with customers, clients or patients, as job security. I kid you not.
Gorgeous moonflower F4F, mine bloomed 2 weeks ago for the first time, and I was on a cruise so I missed it....doh!. My Sharry Baby Orchid bloomed also last month, I have it in the guest bathroom because it is warm and cozy in there for it....everyone who came over kept asking what hand lotion I had in there. It does emit a beautiful smell doesn't it.
I am SOOOO trying to resist the orchid "bug"...I'm trying...reeeaallly trying...and ya'll are NOT helping at all. Just how difficult are these to raise?
I'm still new to them Chantell so hopefully someone else can give more guidance, what I have learnt is that you really need patience as they usually only bloom once or twice a year (at least the ones I have). I have a couple of Oncidium's which are fragrant and then a couple of Cattleya's which are my favorite. It can't hurt to try one Chantell.....come on.... :) My rule of thumb with them is that if I can get it to bloom a second time after I've bought it I'm then allowed to get another one.
Nice orchid astcgirl! Me too, I've been trying HARD to resist this new habit...I got a Nun's orchid baby through a trade this week...we'll see if I can keep it alive!
F4F, my moon flower has just been hanging in there lately....I think it's still too cold for her to bloom! Chantell, what's up with your moon flower that's never bloomed for you? Do you have it in full sun? I know how frustrating this feels...I have a huge calla lily clump that has NEVER bloomed for me....argh!
Pretty Sharry baby, ASTCgirl. So healthy.
Hmmm, Chantell, wonder what's going on with that moonflower- did you plant it plenty of time before the frost? Stupid question, I know. I neglect mine quite a bit- perhaps if the soil is too rich and it is getting too much water it just wants to grow instead of flower. Some things flower when under stress....... I think orchids are pretty easy. I'm not a huge source of info. on fragrant orchids, but I do have an entire book about it that I've been avoiding reading.......maybe we can go broke together?
Rob- good luck with that Nun's orchid- I'll have to check that one out.
OK, confession time. Turns out Gardinos has a booth at this shin-dig I've been going to for how many years now? I've added Brunfelsia lactea, Fagraea beteroana, Strophanths gratus, and Whitfeldia elongata. Hope to have some more pics for you all soon!
F4F, Gardino's is great, they go to the USF Plant Sales up here and if you call them early enough, they are more than willing to bring you healthy plants....they are always my first choice. They went above and beyond to bring my fragrant plant wishlist (mind you it as like 10 or so) they were huge, healthy and all there waiting for me.
Just wrong...i tell you ...just wrong...having shows that these great vendors attend so close to home....sheesh!!
Regarding my moonflower challenges - I think I'll start a few earlier this year and maybe plant directly into the ground instead of the big planters out front - you may be right F4F.
As for the fragrant orchids - I've been a mad woman the last few days...on the internet an obscene amount of time. Went to a nursery south of me that was suggested and came home with 2 babies...one is more like an embryo...LOL
Any of you Floridians ever hear of Orchids By Del-Rei? Sounds like he's extremely reasonable but sadly no web site and probably doesn't do mail order...*sniffle, sniffle* I've been compiling a list of fragrant ones - that other DGers have mentioned as well as some of the nurseries/vendors. Want to make sure i can keep the current ones alive though prior to investing additional funds into more. I do realize that most only bloom once a year...believe me...that's ok...I've got 3 Epi's that I'm going into year 4...hoping for blooms this year...sweet babies started as cuttings. My night blooming Epi bloomed the first time (as ya'll remember) this past summer...so I'm alright with waiting....
