Sweet Olive, Fragrant Tea Olive
Osmanthus fragrans
A view of a grouping of 3 mature sweet olive trees employed as understory plantings beneath large oak trees on a foggy day. They were planted when they were 2 to 3 feet tall at least 15 years ago. That is a 6 foot privacy fence behind them. (San Antonio, Tx.)
Isn't this strange...picture of the day almost a month after posting it.
It is a good pic, though! Congratulations!
Susan, thanks. I have seen "Photos of the Day" that are from way in the past. I have been wondering about this. I was surprised to see it in the Newsletter. Maybe it was chosen because there aren't many photos of large specimens. I took it on a very foggy day. I wish it were better.
I've just bought 5 tea olives to plant in a wide semi-circle, on six foot centers, to eventually act as a screen between my house and a nearby neighbor--we are on three acre lots, but the lots are only 196 feet wide and 625 feet long--I have two lots, for six acres, but my other lot, on the other side, has no development, and on this particular side the neighbor seems close.
Anyway, my question is, did you trim up the bottom of the tea olives in this picture, or did they grow this way naturally, like a small tree? I'm curious because I thought the tea olives would make a solid screen all of the way to the ground, but if they grow this way naturally, I will have to plant another semicircle of azaleas in front of them on my side to fill in at the bottom so I can have a solid screen. Just wondering.
I could not remember at first so I examined the sweet olives. I did trim them up. I did so because my big old dogs were using them as back scratchers. I also wanted to plant other plants under them. Mine do not receive a lot of sun near the bottom now that the oaks are so large that grow above them. The one to the left is a little taller and denser because it receives more sun. This is a view from the left side. I could not stand far enough back to obtain a view from the front. I think that they will make a nice screen. I planted them as a screen to block the morning sun from shining in my daughter's window. Mine are closer together than 6 feet centers. At the time that I planted them, they were very small. I did not know how far apart to plant them. 6 feet centers would be about right I think. I know you will be happy with these beautiful plants that do not require much care at all.
In October of this year, I took 3 hard wood cuttings from this unknown (at the time) scrub in Vicksburg, MS. I wrapped them in a wet papertowel in a zip lock bag and brought them back to Oklahoma with me. They all three rooted easily in peat pot and potting soil (maybe begineers luck) and I plan to plant one as an understory setting, one in full sun and one as a bonsai. The smell of the bloosums in october were incredible.
BonsaiBob, you have had better luck with rooting them than I have! :o) Mine have been blooming for quite some time now (even through several freezes) which they usually don't do this time of year, but we have had some strange weather patterns. Thanks for sharing the information. I am encouraged to attempt to root some cuttings again.
Hazel, the pieces you sent me rooted after about 2 months...then the deer ate them and that was the end of them...boo hoo.
I had them under plastic to root.
Toxicodendron, I was going to email you to see how you were doing in the all the cold weather there. Maybe I gave up on them too soon. I think I will try again. I am sorry that yours became deer dinners. Thanks for the information.
Hazel,
I was wondering if you could help me with a problem that I'm having with my Osmanthus fragrans "Fudingzhu." I bought one of these from Nurseries Caroliniana late last summer. It bloomed wonderfully after it arrived. Here's a picture of it below. But last winter, it started to drop its leaves, and by spring, it was bare. I had hoped the leaves would return with the warmer weather, but it appeared to be dying. The roots looked healthy when I transferred it to a new container just recently. The woody portion on top appeared to be dead, and so I cut it off, leaving only a stump. What I would like to know if anyone has ever cut theirs back to the base and had it regrow from the base or the roots? Thanks! By the way, I have another regular Osmanthus fragrans that is doing well so I'm not sure what happend with "Fudingzhu." Thanks for your help.
Thanks for telling me about the "Fudingzhu" that has much larger blooms than the regular ones I have. It is a beautiful plant. I do not understand why it would lose leaves in the winter. Cold injury and leaf drop occurs in severe winters (mine have never lost any leaves even during severe winters), but would this wouldn't be a problem in your zone. Maybe it was getting too much sun. Mine receive a lot of shade being under oak trees. They prefer light shade especially when they are young. Did the plant receive more sun when the sun shifted in the winter? Usually, the leaves will turn brown before dropping off if this is the case. They also prefer well-drained soil, not much water and can develop root rot if their feet are too wet. I never water mine at all and only minimally when they were establishing themselves. But, yours is in a container so the water probably drains well and you said the roots looked healthy. Thirps and whiteflies can cause major problems, but mine have never had a visit from them and you probably would have seen the problem. They don't need to be fertilized, at least the ones planted in the ground don't. I can't think of another reason that this would happen. I am sorry that I haven't been much help. Maybe someone else had the same thing happen and has an answer. I would just keep it in filtered shade and patiently wait and see if it resprouts from the roots. I am crossing my fingers for you.
Thanks, Hazel. I so appreciate your help. I did have it in a clay container in well-draining soil which seemed to dry out quickly. It sat on my semi-covered patio which gets filtered sun all day, and you're right that it doesn't get much below 40 here in the winter. The leaves dropped off very slowly one by one, and they did have the brown tips beforehand. Perhaps it did get too much water this winter. I'll have to recheck the roots to see if indeed they are healthy. Thanks again for your help. You're right that the flowers were much larger than the regular flowers. Nurseries Caroliniana has a nice selection of Osmanthus if you are interested. Here's a link: http://www.nurcar.com/ The shipping can be a little expensive, but they ship nice-sized plants.
Is the regulat one in a container also with the same kind of potting soil? The reason I am asking is because I had several offspring of some native Texas plants that I had dug to send to people who wanted them. When I potted them, I used potting soil that I didn't know contained fertilizer until I read on the bag after the following happened. The tips of the leaves started turning brown and then all of the leaves. Next, gradually the stems died as well as the whole plant. The only thing I could think of was that the fertilizer in the potting soil killed them because they didn't need it and probably because I watered them too much when the weather had been so abnormally cool here this spring. By watering too frequently, maybe the soil in my plants' containers released too much fertilizer. This has happened to some plants before when I used time release fertilizer (probably too much) in the soil in the ground in one flowerbed. It rained repeatedly for quite a period of time and the plants actually were fertilized to death. Just a thought ... Thanks for the link and information.
Hi Hazel, I just pulled up the plant and checked the roots again. Even though there was a large mass of roots, they were all brown, and I tossed the plant. Yes, actually I have two regular ones -- one little and one medium-sized -- in containers with the same type of potting soil, and they are doing very well. I too add slow-release fertilizer to my pots, and I hit them with Miracle Grow, Superthrive, Bill's Perfect Fertilizer, and Spray 'N Grow during the growing season, but I haven't seen any ill effects of doing this to my container plants. I do lose things in the winter sometimes when I water too much. I may have fertilized the "Fudingzhu" with MiracleGro Bloombooster when I fertilized all my other plants, and I probably watered too much for winter as well. Thanks for your help. It is a shame to lose such a lovely plant, but I will get one again at a later time.
We live in Middle Georgia and we moved into a house a year ago that has a beautiful Tea Olive Tree in the back yard. It is my husbands favorite plant in the whole yard! However, I have done some research online and can't find much about the tree. It is about 8 feet tall and we would like to cut it back some. Does anyone know the best time of year to trim the tree and how far we can cut it back - all the folliage like a Crepe Mertle or just the top?
I wish I had a picture to post because it is absolutely gorgeous! The shape is just perfect. It's just a little too tall.
The best time to prune them is in late winter so you are not pruning off the bloom buds that appear on the new growth in the spring and summer. I would not trim all of the foliage from the tree. Just prune the top because this plant is very slow growing. I have only pruned some lower branches from mine.
