The only big ones I've seen are on a slippery clay bank near the north end of the Seattle arboretum, where they have been for years. Smaller specimens in nurseries and yards look like they are going to hate our cool summers and winters with frost, house plants stuck outdoors. Maybe the arboretum plants are a colder climate form not usually seen elsewhere.

Willamettemom, bboy talked me out of purchasing one a couple of years ago for the reasons he's listed and several others. I ended up very happily with osmanthus burkwoodii. Check it out.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Ed Hume's article on osmanthus

Latest edition of Sunset WESTERN GARDEN BOOK says "Zones 5-7 (with shelter)" so in PNW it's probably best to give it a warm nook, such as the sunny side of a partially enclosed entryway. Such a location would probably maximize the impact of the fragrance also, there being less wind to disperse and weaken it.

Alas, we no longer have cool summers. It's scorching burning relentlessly HOT here in the summertime, generally starting July 5 and lasting through September. The winters still get cold and wet, but spring is much less wet than it used to be.

You never did have cool summers. That's why there is so much agriculture concentrated there.

"Warm summers and chilly winters make the Willamette Valley one of the West's best-known growing areas for berries, hazelnuts, roses, flowering fruit trees, and broadleafed evergreens."

--Sunset Western Garden Book

My O. fragrans is doing OK but slow growing. It hasn't flowered yet. Planted 2-05 from a gallon pot. TG also planted then, OD planted 10-04, has bloomed but hard to smell as the weather is cold and wet; EE 6-00. EE is very fragrant, evergreen, and a lovely plant. Ironically I lost Osmanthus heterophylla Variegatum which I believe is supposed to be hardier than OF.

Photos of some fragrant shrubs, sorry they are kind of busy-
Osmanthus fragrans Nanjing Beauty- leaves above the milk jug

Osmanthus delavayi

Ternstroemia gymnanthera

Eleagnus ebbingei Silverberry var

Odd how both the osmanthuses and the ternstroemia produce milk jugs, yet are unrelated.

Ha ha Ron. The milk jug is for perspective. I know that the photos are not that good and hard to see the plants but at least I went out in the rain and took them... Have you noticed that a photo without some object for perspective is very difficult to guess sizes? On the rose forum in particular a flower may appear to be a very substantial bloom and turn out to be 1". Anyway, O. fragrans has lived through a couple of winters for me. I'm also waiting to see how long my Azara microphylla Variegata which is very small will take to get big enough to bloom so I can see if it really smells like chocolate.:-)

One at Ciscoe's place seemed to shoot right up. Last year it was 25 ft. tall. (One at Children's Hospital was over 15 ft. tall the same year. See Trees of Seattle - Second Edition for specific locations of both and two others).

Probably he can tell you when he planted it and how big it was then.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ciscoe

Thanks to all of you! :) What a helpful forum this is!

Hi Bboy

Where is Cisco's place? I'd really like to see a 25ft osmanthus fragrance!
I have planted around 10 different kind of Osmanthus Fragrance plants, but I have not seen them flower much, only a little bit here and there, and I feel very dissapointed. The photo is Osmanthus Fragrance Thunbergii.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I would seek out Osmanthus x fortunei. This has proven to be far hardier than O. fragrans, but it still requires a protected location.

The mature plants I've seen have bloom reliably each fall and the fragrance is outstanding!

Hope this helps!

Riz

There is an amazing Osmanthus x fortunei growing alongside an apartment building on Brooklyn Avenue in the U District. The flowers are so thick on the branches they look like cottage cheese. The fragrance, of course, is unbelievable! The Osmanthus fragrans I bought last fall at Swanson's lost most of its leaves last winter. I am eager to see what it does this season. Much of the new growth arrived in late summer so I'm keeping my fingers crossed

Here is a link that might be useful: Jim's Plants on Artdish

The 25 ft. specimen is the variegated Azara cultivar referred to in the post immediately preceding. Regarding Osmanthus x fortunei 'San Jose'

"It is rare in Seattle, growing as a shade-tolerant very large shrub or small tree. The oldest and largest may be one planted in 1954 at Washington Park Arboretum, more than 20 feet tall."

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant of the Month: December 2001

In Trees of Seattle - Second Edition (2006) Jacobson has this entry, for Osmanthus x fortunei (reproduced here in part):

"Leaves to 3 3/4" long, edged with up to 12 spiny teeth per side. Flowers smell like apricots when blooming in October - December. The clone of common cultivation is [male]. 4115 Brooklyn Ave NE: 27 1/2' x 5'9". Arboretum #78-50B is 28' tall, #78-50A is 26 1/2' tall, both multi-trunked in 25-1E. Cleopatra Ave NW, south of NW 73rd St, a west side yard: 24' tall multi-trunked. The cv. 'San Jose' has larger, pale orange flowers, and leaves to 4 3/4" long. Arboretum #932-48B is 31' tall, 3-trunked in 25-B. The SE corner of Brooklyn Ave N & N 56th St has one west of the house"

I have just the straight green Azara microphylla and it grows like a weed here. A one gallon plant planted maybe 6 years ago is now 10-12 feet tall. And yes, the flowers DO smell chocolatey - more like white chocolate, tho :-)) btw, branch snippings from this shrubby tree are great in cut flower bouquets.

Has also been described as smelling of vanilla.

Wonder if this is the same "clone of common cultivation" we have here.

"Discovered on the University of North Carolina campus, this selection has a naturally tall, rounded form, an abundance of fragrant, cream-colored flowers, and a very long period of bloom.

Osmanthus ÃÂfortunei 'UNC'"

Here is a link that might be useful: JC Raulston Arboretum - Autumn in the Arboretum 2007

Osmanthus x fortunei 'UNC'

My O. fragrans in the photo in this thread did actually bloom this fall, though rather small clusters. I saw some amazing trees/large shrubs of it blooming at the Chinese Garden in Portland, and smelling wonderful, along with other fragrant plants like Mitchella. As far as I know they didn't have Azara, so I hope mine grows fast and blooms soon. The Eleagnus ebbingei's in my yard have been wafting fragrance for several months now.

My O. fragrans in the photo in this thread did actually bloom this fall, though rather small clusters. I saw some amazing trees it blooming at the Chinese Garden in Portland, and smelling wonderful, along with other fragrant plants like Michelia. As far as I know they didn't have Azara, so I hope mine grows fast and blooms soon. The Eleagnus ebbingei's in my yard have been wafting fragrance for several months now.