Always a good feeling to see an amazon lily in bloom. These things are so shy!

Now, I am jealous, my celadine only has the inflo and the cold season is coming to zone 5. I really hope this one bloom before winter

My plummies aren't blooming. They didn't bloom last year either. I went and planted one in the ground up on a hill this year, it looks happy. Will dig it up in fall for winter and bring in house. I'm glad your plummies have blooms, my trees just have leaves again.

James, that lily is beautiful! I hope it smells as good as it looks.

Thanks butterfly, it does have nice scent, I wish it was stronger.

Butterfly, thats good to hear Chuck Hayes has potential rebloom capabilities. Mines are still small and I only got blooms in June this year. I was about to order the Four Seasons gardenia to make up for that but guess I won't have to now!

Dar, you should have seen it this spring. Unbelievable, it blooms quite often, really. I don't go out of my way to fertilize it or anything, I have been watering it more this year, mabey that made a difference. I think Chuck is more fragrant than August Beauty myself. It may take a few years to really start growing for you, but once it does, it'll really take off.

Ooh so glad to hear this. I just planted a small Chuck this spring. The bigger plants in the nursery had some pretty big blooms so it was an easy purchase decision:). My plant is quite small so I'm thrilled a few buds have formed

Light fragrance so far. Very vigorous. Multiple spikes coming up. Loves it outdoors here in Tampa all Fall, Winter, and Spring. Loves the AC indoors all summer. Not sure of variety. I see several similar on web but this has much larger yellow throat.

Hey guys!

Nice to see your flowers. I had crazy family stuff happen and haven't been on in a while.

Major changes in the garden.

We're on water restrictions here. Alot of plants died. Grass is completely dead. Established roses have gone dormant.

Fun fact, you can train roses to go dormant in summer here. Which is actually beneficial since all our rain is in winter. Saves on water too.

So, we're converting all our planters from in the ground to raised.

When our tree fell we had to replace the side wall. And the new foundation was much larger. So we had to make a raised bed for all the plants that had been below the wall.

It takes much much less water than the in ground ones. And was much more lush (but not spectacular) than the in ground plants.

On top of that we've added in soaker hoses with a thick layer of mulch.

This has helped immensely. I now only need to water once every 10 days or so.

So hopefully I'll have exciting plants don to share but for right now just a few things that are managing blooms despite the lack of water.

This is actually in the raised planter. It's covered in blooms right now.

Grand Duke. Despite the leaves it hardly gets watered so I only get one bloom every so often

ord,

Beautiful Grand Duke! Are you in California? Sorry to hear about all that happened with the tree and your drought. Hope everything gets better for you. I think everyone is going to have to try to conserve water eventually, without water, no life.

I am in California.. Nearish Disneyland.

I've wanted to save water for a while but the restrictions really pushed me to do it. I'm actually happy about this.

My plants are getting more water than ever after these changes yet I'm using much less.

The next challenge is grass. It's so impractical here yet everyone wants it. I found a California native grass that supposedly takes 50% less water. Supposedly.

Nothing really exotic blooming for me right now besides the sambac jasmines.

I have been enjoying the soapy clean scent of Ipomoea alba.

I also found Petunia Supertunia 'Priscilla' which smells wonderful at night. I started some old fashioned vining seeds a couple of weeks ago but I'm probably too late to enjoy their scent.

Almost forgot. Chinese Perfume Plant (Aglaia odorata) is blooming.

As usual some days I can smell it wafting in the breeze and some days nothing. :)

Robert, how are you? My Chinese Perfume plant as more flowers than the stars at night, and yet only one warm humid night I could smell it it's its entire bloom period for over three weeks..Strange...I am begining to wonder if this one is even worth the wait any more. I love the petunia scent at night, but something has made all of mine turn brown. Arg

Ordphien, welcome back and so sorry to hear about youur drought..What is those purple flowers called..It looks like they bloom on bare branches..Lovely)

Butterfly, how's you doing these days...??Been thinking of you. I hope all is well. Love that gardenia..Good job)

Blutayle, love the scent of those and I am surprised yours are flowering now..How starnge is that? Mine always flower when everyone else's have already passed or even other sides of the calender..I don't get it.

James, what's your secret? I've been trying Amazon lilllies for years and I can't even get new leaves.lol Lovely!

Ctgarde, coming alone...Love plumeria if I could ever keep one alive...

It's a Giant Potato Vine.

It is leafed out though. That picture was just near the main trunk.

Hi Mike!

I'm doing great. Hope you are as well. :) Totally understand about wondering if plants are worth it or not.

Just got home from dancing and on a lark decided to sniff Cestrum 'Orange Peel' and discovered only a few spikes were fragrant (the plant is covered in bloom spikes). I don't understand this plant but I'll take what I can get. ;)

Mike, if there is a secret I sure don't know it. I've only had it for about a year, it went outside in a shady area in spring.

Blutayle, I like that Milt. I tried to get a red one like yours but my flowers alway turn more purple. I know temps affect the flower color somehow but I don't know if I need warmer or cooler for red.

I'm waiting on Logees to send out a coupon so I can order a few things I've seen here.

Robert, That ipomoea photo is cool you should frame it. It has a nice abstract quality to it

Thanks Mike and James. This is my first bloom cycle for this red milt. Got it last fall. It is much more vigorous then the yellow one I have. I thought they were spring or fall bloomers, but I will take it ....as long as it BLOOMS...lol. I keep it at about 72 in the house. I believe the heat does wear out the color abit...kind of like a MR. Lincoln rose here during the summer...not too pretty...and certainly not too red. I have to say though...since local nurseries don't carry Milts here in Tampa...have had great luck on ebay.

Fragrant2008--I'm always amazed you can grow all those gorgeous tropical flowers in the UK of all places. I live in So Cal and can't even get an orchid to bloom let alone thrive. They just sulk and die a very slow death for me.

I've never heard of Nemesias before I shall check those out.

Brian, it's hard for us to feel sorry for your terrible summer with all those gorgeous flowers to sniff! Laugh.

They are stunning. Are you able to get any scent from Plumeria stenopetala? Glad to see it's finally blooming for you. I didn't find the scent worth the trouble of growing the plant.

I've been enjoying sniffing the spicy scent of Passiflora x belotii (purple flowers) and we had an unusually cool morning today for August so I took advantage of it and enjoyed the perfume like scent of Lonicera 'Goldflame' (pink and yellow flowers) which always smells stronger on cool mornings to my nose.

Fragrant2008, it's the opposite for us here in usually rainy Vancouver. We're in the middle of the longest drought on record, so watering restrictions are in place. I've got a few things blooming but the flowers are half the usual size & not much fragrance. It's an effort to keep things alive & I've lost a few things. I'm amazed by yr gorgeous plants

Thank you Dar,Robert and Maggie :) I have had my loses to Dar, not everything grows it is just a matter of perseverance and finding out what works for you.

Lol Robert you have no idea how much i envy your tropical basement :P everything always looks so happy and healthy and you seem to get plants in flower so early in the year i am dreading winter if this summer is anything to go by. You look after your plants all through the autum winter and spring just for summer to be a let down.

Plumeria stenopetala was a bit of a let down for me too nice fragrance but had to get up close having said that i do not think i have had the right atmospheric conditions for tropical plant fragrances to be at there best. On the plus side its the first Plumeria i have got to flower.

Your passiflora is stunningly beautiful another plant i have never tried growing

Cold or drought! i guess at least with the lower temps i am not at risk of losing any plants as much as i would like some sun and heat. I hope you get some rain soon Maggie and that you do not lose anything special or valuable to you

Michelia alba, second bloom of the year.

Gotta love end of season sales!

I went to a local nursery and discovered a huge Belle of India jasmine originally marked $40 but everything was half off so I got it for $20. I've never seen Belle offered in Tulsa before so I'm thrilled (I had to order all mine online). Of course I have 5 zillion jasmines so I'll probably give it to my friend in Oklahoma City. I also found an Allamanda cathartica 'Golden Butterfly' which has a light sweet scent if you stick your nose to the blooms.

It's a good time to find some bargains out there!

Do not get these kind of plants let alone offers in the uk :( Do you want to ship one over for me please Robert ;)

Question for you guys.

Is champaca yellow? And does it smell similar to champaca alba?

I was at Disneyland when I detected a faint fragrance similar to the alba version.

A quick glance around and I found a tree that very much looks like a michelia to me with suspicious looking yellow flowers.

It was quite tall and the flowers far away but I was hoping maybe I could get an id.

Sorry for the terrible pictures.

Also. Is this a gardenia? They have two and they are huge. They certainly look and smell similar to a gardenia.

If not does anyone know what it is?

Yes. Champaca is yellow. Always wanted to sniff it.

My guess for your gardenia is Gardenia tubifera. If the blooms turn yellow then I'd say that's it.

I'd say it's Gardenia thunbergia.

The champacas I've seen have all had flowers way too high to sniff. :/ But I'm guessing they may have subtle variation in scent. Analogous to the sublte differences of gardenia scents.

After years of searching I found one of my holy grails, a Blush magnolia. The thing is loaded with flower buds. There must be at least 100 or 200 flower buds on one plant. The nursery I got it from also had champaca blooming in a 5 gal pot, but the flowers were at least 12 ft up at the top.

Penang Peach still blooming its head off.

Wow, Dar! So many plumies to sniff!

I bet you're right about the gardenia. It's fun to guess though!

Today at lunch when I was trying to get the dog to do something (she never did anything thanks to the thunder) I noticed a lone Brunfelsia gigantea bloom. Of course it's in a difficult spot to sniff but maybe I can rotate the pot around or figure something out. I'm excited since I've not had any blooms on it since spring.

My 'Summer Snow' gardenia has quite an impressively large bud opening despite the drought that has reduced everything to half size. Really looking forward to next year & hopefully normal growing conditions

I've never heard of summer snow. How's the scent?

One of my vietchii is blooming.

Maggy Nice..I was wondering if you have been batteling spide mites..The leaves look spectled..It has been horrible here and in fact the first time I ever had to deal with them outside..Just like you, no rain and now a drought..All my plants are subjected to my tap water which is ravaging their health for the time being..By the time I get any decent rains, it will be too cold to leave all my plants out to enjoy it(
Beautiful plants every one!

Ordphien, is that you against that massive beautiful looking tree? Looks like you are pretty happy there. I only wish I could go back knowing what I know now. I would be on the prowl for any fragrnt trees and so I could find. Wow, amzing flowers I wish I could grow in my house..Thanks for sharing )

Hi Mikerno...no mites, just the plant barely able to stay green due to the heat/drought. I have a gardenia standard indoors that I bought (which I shouldn't have as I have one already) on a hope that it might be an 'Aimee' because of its huge buds - but unfortunately it came with mites. I found a dilution of rubbing alcohol took care of the problem although it has yet to recover fully

ps. The drought finally ended, thank God, but what a deluge! The storm brought down so many trees that we had a record-breaking power outage. Crazy weather...

'Summer Snow' fully open. Measured at 4" which is very good as I'm sure it's stunted from drought. Strong fragrance like jasminoides or veitchii. Now we'll have to see how it overwinters outside

Everything looks so refreshed after the rain. Yay!

Mike,

No lol. That's not me. That's my boyfriend.

And the girl desperately trying to reach a flower in the background is my friend.

Massive isn't it?

It's helpful being able to go season round.

I just discovered a whole planter of gardenia I never knew existed.