Intoxicating blooms

Hey Everybody, Many plants are quite fragrant, but if forced to pick just one my vote would go to Wintersweet (Chimonanthus Praecox) for its rather long season of bloom, unusual TIME of blooming (here in GA about Thanksgiving til Valentine`s Day), and its absolutely amazing fragrance! After growing it for 20* years would not want to be without my Wintersweet!!! The scent on a mild sunny Winter afternoon is something to look forward to each November. Randy/GA

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Thanks, Moose, I appreciate that info. Sounds (or should I say smells) great!

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Autumn Olive is powerful. Every time I catch a drift, I think it’s somebody smoking one of those clove cigarettes from back in the day.

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Anyone have some experience in which gardenia are the most idiot proof? I managed to kill a few and was looking for some insight, thanks in advance.

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sorry for the late advice, didn’t see your post until now.

anyway, treat it like an orchid: give it as much sunlight just short of the foliage getting bleached or scorched. Growing it under netting near a pond(for humidity) is actually the best if you’re in a really hot area.

it also loves acid soil. We use bits of orange/citrus peel as mulch. Serves as fertilizer, moisture conserver, and acidifier in one package, and it is free :slight_smile:

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Saw this topic pop up and thought I would add a quick report on the plants we put in this year. The philadelphus actually bloomed pretty prolifically for having been planted this spring. The blossoms are pretty but the fragrance, while pleasant, was not very strong. Kind of had to stick my nose in there to pick it up, though admittedly I don’t have the greatest sense of smell. The leaves show some signs of getting droopy in hot weather and I suspect that it might do better with some shade unless you are in a cooler summer locale. (Ours gets afternoon shade but quite a lot of late-morning sun.) The calycanthus seems to be doing fine though it’s a smaller plant and may take a year or two before it’s ready to bloom.

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It’s taken my plant 3 years to bloom in sufficient quantity, and granted I have it in a not quite hospitable location, but clematis Sweet Summer Love is a wonderfully fragrant flowering vine. The flowers are profuse and the scent wafts well…

Scott

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Thought i’d throw a few in here before the snow starts flying and everything gets put back inside. Just a few things. Jasmine has bloomed a few times over the summer. The flowers aren’t super big but VERY fragrant. Gardenias have also bloomed a lot over the summer (during the heat they seem to somewhat take a break…when we had that cool shot in August they all started throwing out blooms). I have Kleims Hardy, Buttons (no blooms right now), and a tree type variety that has huge blooms (like roses). The big blooming one smells the best. Plumeria just started to open up…can’t tell yet how fragrant this one is going to be.

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I would love to hear more about good smelling indoor plants that are easy to take care of!

For outside i need to second mock orange as an amazing plant! Wonderful smell, handles cold heat and drought like a champ.

Also i grow as much Mint Lavender and hardy geranium as i can.

I do have to say that my tlor tsiran apricot has an amazing blossom and smell as well and always brings the bees straight to my yard.

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I had some indoor citrus that bloomed many years ago and it was the best smell i ever came home to.

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I’d start with Gardenia/Jasmine…they seem to be easy to grow. Just use acid loving plant soil mix/ferts…k.eep them moist. Over winter i had one drop a bunch of leaves because it dried out way too much. The plant has come back strong this summer.

I’m trying Tea Olive too…i think these grow into trees. They are suppose to have fragrant blooms? I have 3. I also started cuttings from my big gardenia back in July. All 3 took and are growing nicely.

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I have a seedling grapefruit going on maybe 3 or 4 years. The weird thing is that it developed one bloom when i potted it up one fall. Like you said…you could smell it when you walked in the kitchen. I wish it would bloom again but i doubt it. I always thought you had to wait a long time for seedlings to flower.

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Rob, Are these all in pots that you bring in over winter? I’d love to hear that you have a gardenia that overwinters outside! Beautiful blooms. Sue

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No gardenia is going to survive outside around here unless it had a lot of protection…they are shallow rooted so don’t need a huge container. They all overwinter inside just fine. Only issue might be mites and they don’t bloom much…i remember the buttons would start to form blooms, but they would just fall off before opening…not sure why…maybe not enough light.

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Tea olive is very fragrant. Very sweet scent. What color is the flowers? Is it 4 season bloom or one season?

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Looks like white flowers and they can bloom year round but mainly in the spring and fall.

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My lilacs - i love the white best. And the japanese honeysuckle (japonica). Hummingbirds love it too. Its taking over my back fence and the big deadfall pile i have back there

Sadly and ironically, rosa multiflora. Which i am eradicating with great prejudice.

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Yes seedling citrus does not flower much. Mine were 12 years old before my seedlings flowered. I never could find grafting wood to tbud them. They finally died at around 22 years old and only flowered once. I had them in very heavy 20 gallon pots. They died more due to lack of water than anything because they drank huge amounts of water. Like you i grew a pomelo / grapefruit hybrid which produced huge delicious fruits several times and then died. It was grafted and was consistent in blooming every year.

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Oh man…that doesn’t sound good. I have thought about buying an already flowering citrus (lemon/lime/etc) and just grafting from that to my seedling. I think you can graft pretty much any citrus to any other citrus.

I have a night blooming jasmine that has some blooms about ready to open. It didn’t bloom much this summer…but bloomed heavily about a month ago. Those blooms are very fragrant but only at night.

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I’m a fan of Tuberose, a heavy scent and definitely intoxicating. Easy to grow bulbs, Zone 7 hardy. I finally gave all mine away, but they are an easy, dependable patio plant.

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