Fragrant / winter blooming plants for greenhouse

Hi everyone, I just finished my greenhouse (5 years in the making) enough this spring so I could start my tomato and pepper plants, which are doing great (still too early to set them out here). I also started marigolds and some nasturtiums.

Last year I only had plastic over roof and windows and did not have heat. This year I have glass and heat. Next year I hope to have lights (other than the one hanging off a rafter) and water.

I am looking for plants I can start this spring or summer that will bloom this winter in the greenhouse. Most interested in the fragrant type as part of my heating for the greenhouse is circulating air from my basement into the greenhouse at one end and then back into basement at the other end and would love to have that fragrant flower smell make it way into the house.

Hi Bensen,

Off the top of my head, I would say Jasmine would lead the list. Jasminum nitidum blooms well for me all winter, but it is a little dirty, dropping leaves and suffering from occasional stem dieback...just always looks a little unkept. Jasminum polyanthum is a prettier, cleaner plant, more of like an actual twining vine...mine has yet to bloom.

Most brugs bloom in warmer months. Gardenias tend to do the same thing, but there is one called 'Four Seasons' which is supposed to bloom all year round.

Maybe a Banana Shrub, Michelia figo. Another Michelia is M. champaca.

Desmos chinensis, Dwarf Ylang-Ylang, blooms in the spring I think, but is very fragrant. There is also an Ylang-Ylang vine, Artabotrys hexapetalus, but I don't know much about it other than it is invasive in Hawaii...may be worth checking out.

For winter blooms, you may have to keep the GH on the warm side.

Here are a couple of links to look at: http://www.logees.com/products.asp?dept=165
http://www.rareflora.com/fragrant.htm

Here is a pic of my J. nitidum.

SB, thanks for this great information. I'll check out these links and research some of the plants. Thanks again

Charlie

Hi SB- I was going to send you a dmail showing you this ylang ylang I just got-it's the real tree-Cananga odorata and I only paid $ 19.00 which is a great price-imo. I got it from here ttp://www.eldonaccess.com/displayProductDocument.hg?productId=17&categoryId=7. Its a great nursery-the quality and size are the best I have seen. I called her to ask about something and mentioned the ylang ylang and she told me about the smaller tree which I got. I also got a cold hardy banana -M. Basjoo which was really big, and I think it will overwinter in MO and NH.
Benson, you might be interested in this tree as well, the fragrance is unbelievable!

darn the link didn't work-heres another try-still kind of new at this! http://www.eldonaccess.com/splashPage.hg. If this doesn't work-its EldonAccess.com

Thanks tigerlily123, I will check it out. I have small greenhouse so size may be a problem.

Charlie

Benson, I don't think this tree will grow that fast-its tropical, but I agree that you probably were looking for fragrant vines and shrubs! lol. Got carried away with this one-but no better fragrance. Give the Musa basjoo a shot-it will come back for you if you plant it outside ( soon so it gets established) and mulch over it during the winter. You have a greenhouse now-gotta get the tropical look!

Thanks again tigerlily123, I will check it out.

TL, did you get the seedling they mention on the site? 6-7' in a container sounds doable...

I thought this one looked interesting: http://www.rareflora.com/aglaiaodo.html

SB

Bensen - how about some citrus? They are gloriously fragrant and you get the fruits too.

Thanks Tammy, that's another one I will research. I'm still looking at the links I got from SB.

Thanks to everyone for the input, this is such a great site. So glad I joined.

Charlie

Hey Tammy and Charlie,

First, I love citrus, I have 7 trees, and many more on my wish list. But I wouldn't include citrus on this list for two reasons.

First, they smell great, but you have to stick your nose into the tree to get the scent. My GH has been filled with the smell of Gardenia and Jasmine, but never filled with citrus, even when 3 or 4 of the trees are blooming.

Second, they are perhaps the most finicky plants I grow... prone to nutrient deficiencies, salt toxicity, leaf drop, pests. They can be very challenging to grow.

Really, I'm surprised DG doesn't have a citrus forum, given the large number of citrus varieties available and the number of problems people have with this genus.

SB

Robert & Charlie,

I've got three citrus trees in my greenhouse and if even one blooms, it fills the air with that
sweet scent. Interesting our experiences are so different. (Maybe my greenhouse is smaller?
Its about 18' x 15') I also give them very little "special" care though I have been fighting
scale for years. I finally bought that Bayer stuff you use as a drench and it seems to have
substantially gotten rid of those pests.

Tam

What kind of "special" care do you give them Tammy? I really love the scent of citrus blooms. When I lived in Hawaii we had a huge pomelo tree in the yard that really filled the air... I have a orange tree and a orange jasmine that I am trying right now. I could use some advice, Thanks
Ps...when my citrus tree blooms-that baby is coming in the house lol maybe right next to the nightstand

This message was edited May 15, 2006 7:47 AM

I have to agree with Tammy on the fragrance of citrus blooms--I don't have any citrus myself now, but I know every time I go to the nursery and get within 20 feet of where the citrus trees are I can smell them very clearly if they're in bloom--and that's in an open air nursery, not even in an enclosed greenhouse.

It must be my allergies ;-)

Tammy, which citrus do you have? Do you notice any differences in scent?

I have a Meyer, Persian lime, Nagami Kumquat, Valencia, Satsuma, Calamondin, and Washington Navel.

I would say that so far, my Meyer and the Washington have the best scent.

SB

We have orange, grapefruit, lemon, and mandarin groves out here and when they are in bloom it literally fills the morning and evening air with the most intoxicating fragrance. I might suggest that greenhouse culture could have some effect on them, yet that is not known by me to be more than just a guess. Personally, I grow one of just about everything citrus (yeah, why no citrus forum?), and have a Nagami Kumquat in a large pot growing in our back garden that will soon fill the entire garden with a lovely scent as it comes out of semi-dormancy and gets going again. SB, there's a great trace mineral/nutrient soluble mix called Citrus Grower's Mix that contains a few of the critical nutrients (zinc, manganese, copper) that seem to be lacking in many of the other commercial plant foods in proper proportions.

Europeans kept Orangeries which were greenhouse/conservatories set up specifically for citrus, and many a long-winded poem has been written about the fragrance of the flowers.

Are you growing dwarf or standard sized trees?

There are dozens of highly fragrant orchids that are winter-bloomers.


best,
don

I am going to start with some Jasmine this year. Checked out one of the links to a site that SB posted (great site) and I am trying to decide which ones to order. Also I think I will hang the Jasmine by my gazebo during the summer (It gets morning sun and filtered sun from late morning on) Then bring it back into greenhouse for the winter.

I have two lemons (not meyer but I don't recall the type. I bought them years ago). And more recently
a lime. The two lemons just smell wonderful for sure. The lime is growing much larger much faster than
the lemons too.

I don't really do much besides watering w/mild fertilizer (algroflash) and occasional pruning. They go
outside during the summer. And I've been fighting mealy bugs for years so I've cleaned them with
alcohol several times, used neem oil and pyrethrum sprays and finally a soil drench (so I can't eat the
fruit for sure now). No real special care.

Thanks
Tam

lol....sorry Tammy-went back and read your first post-you said you give them very little "special" care...key word here "little"! You must have wondered at my question! I'm a tad tired these days, but I get it sooner or later!
How fast do these trees grow in the summer? any estimates? Since I am growing these plants strictly for the fragrance, I am not worried about the inorganic treatment it will get, which I think will make taking care of it easier. I don't even like oranges that much!
SB you hear that dreaded word? Your best friend and mine-Mr. Mealie....my new worst enemy. Tammy, what did you use for a soil drench? Flagship works on mealies, and I just used Talstar/orthene combo that worked well-doing a second spray this am. Some of my new tropicals and the coleus did not react well to the hort oil I used.

"I don't even like oranges that much!"

Heresy!

I've got fruit coming along and I intend to eat them!

I'm drawing up battle plans for IPM assault #2, but probably not until this fall. For the summer, the trenches have been dug and the troops (Neem, alcohol, pyrethrum) will hold the line against the pesky enemy until the IPM reinforcements arive...but back to the subject at hand...

DrDon, I use Osmacote and Micromax, but I'll check out the Citrus Grower's Mix, thanks.

TL, Gardinos is out of the Dwarf Cananga, rats. I'm on the waiting list.

SB, if I ever got an orange off this tree, it would be a miracle lol its about 8" high right now! Thats why I asked about the growth rate. As too not liking oranges that much....I think we both know they aren't half as good as macademias :)

I will tell you a story about this valley that I lived in on Maui-it was a fairly unusual valley in that not only had it been heavily populated by Hawaiians-so you had a lot of useful tropical plants and fruit trees (oranges, 10 types of avocados etc), the Forestry unit of the state government used this valley to grow mahogany and teak, so there were two sizeable groves of them in there ( great for wood carving), the 2nd largest lychee grove in Hawaii in there-lots of cool things.
There was a rich restauranteer who had a place up there (his name was Jerry Macdonald and yes it was a farm lol). He was a jerk with too much money and he had a bulldozer that he ruined the road with-so that when it rained it was a mudpit-
heres the part for you- there was a old orange tree near the road (only reason he knew about it) and it was producing but he couldn't climb the tree so he took his bulldozer and brought the tree down so he could get some oranges. I think its one of the saddest testiments to how badly we take this planet for granted.
I would like to know what that flower is on the Gardino website that is at the top when you click on the fragrant plants page-its a creamy light yellow bloom-any ideas?

The flower on the Gardino page looks like one of the whitish flowering Brunfelsia's