I've had this plant for 1 year now in a pot, I've only had one bloom......I go away for 3 weeks and come home to it full of buds.....they are all starting to open now, today I have about 5 open and walking around the area you can smell the beautiful fragrance....it's not overpowering, but I find myself sniffing obsessively whenever I'm near it. Sadly the flowers only last about 2-3 days and then turn brown. I just had to share this bloom....it's huge.
This is not a good picture because the white blooms look so stark in the sunlight, even though I take it in the shade, but I wanted to show what the bush is like. It gets afternoon sun but lots of bright light all day....I guess it likes this spot!
This picture was taken at dusk so it shows the white blooms better.
Just had to "run over" and take a peek-see at your baby....WOWzers!!! You must be very proud...she looks like a happy plant!!!! Sure the scent is amazing.
Beautiful! I love the smell of that one.
Thank you ecrane3 and Chantell I couldn't keep it all to myself, I just wish I could send you all the scent.
My stephanotis is peeking out too....I need to train it up a new trellis as it is overgrown on a very small trellis. I love this vine too.
My gardenia is also in full swing....I just loooove the scent of these. I just wish I could keep these alive in a pot....they only survive for me in the ground here.
If all the whites aren't enough....my roses are going crazy too....don't you just love spring!
If it makes you feel any better I can't keep them alive in pots either...have tracked down the only 3 cold hardy ones I know of and they are most definitely IN the ground...LOL. Starting to get buds...will post pretties when they bloom.
The stephanotis wouldn't root for me :( ~ I think someone found an actual plant and is shipping it to me...thank God...I won't kill that one!!! Although I just realized that my Poets Jasmine was upside down in my yard after those horrible storms the other night...whew, she was ok...brought her inside to re-coop!!!
I got my stephanotis at one of the Plant Sales that the university puts on here, I think it was in a 3 gallon pot when I got it....
My Cestrum diurnum (day blooming jasmine) is also blooming right now. This smells like chocolate.
I actually have a question....I just had a Peruvian Daffodil bloom, I've heard they are supposed to be fragrant....there was no fragrance at all....could it maybe be because it was the first bloom?
I grew one of those a couple years ago and mine had a wonderful fragrance. There are a few different species though, so it's possible that some may smell better than others. Mine was (I believe) Hymenocallis festalis.
Re the Peruvian Daffodil - http://www.morris.umn.edu/pyg/tips/perennials/tip_1402.shtml looks like they're suppose to BE scented..hmmmm?????
Think of me if you come across another stephanotis (with ROOTS...LOL) at those sales ok? I'm good for the plant price and postage....cross my heart!!! ^_^ Gotta find out which kind my buddy out west found for me, first though.
I just purchased some peruvian daffodil bulbs, and they were not advertised as fragrant. I got the bulbs at HD from Dutch Bulb Company or something like that.
Astcgirl, do you have any seeds or cuttings from the day blooming cestrum? The only one DG trade that I've had bad experience with I was supposed to get some cuttings, and I would really like this plant. Please check out my trade list if you have something available and are willing to trade.
Chantell, did I ever send you Stephanotis seeds? Have they come up for you yet? I am still waiting for the Tahitian Gardenia seeds to pop!!!!
You know what?!!! YOU DID...OMG...totally forgot about those...I'd actually put them aside so I wouldn't....and then did any who....geez!!!
Silly gardener! I planted something I meant to trade recently. If you are anything like me, you've got too much to keep track of!!!!!!
Flauna4flora, I went and looked at the ID card I kept....I got my peruvian daffodils from Lowes, it says
Peruvian Daffodils
Ismene
SWEET fragrant blooms
When you posted I thought...that's it.....thinking I got it from HD or Lowes and it probably was one of those non-fragrant ones....but alas mine is supposed to be fragrant.....hopefully the next time it blooms.
In regards to my Cestrum diurnum (day blooming jasmine) I haven't had any seeds yet but I'd be happy to try and get a cutting rooted for you.
Samantha
Ismene appears to be a reference to a variety name. Mine did not say that as I recall, but mesmerizing blooms. You don't necessarily have to trouble yourself with making a cutting of the cestrum, but it is very thoughtful of you to offer. I will Dmail you. F4F
Ismene is just an older name for the genus that's now called Hymenocallis, most times when they're sold now they're sold under the Hymenocallis but there are always a few places that like to be different! There are several different species, the one I had (which I think was Hymenocallis festalis) was definitely fragrant, can't speak for any of the others although I thought they were all supposed to be fragrant.
I think certain environmental factors trigger fragrance. Humidity, heat, daylight length.... who knows? I can tell you that 2 of my fragrants- Japanese perfume tree and Tea Olive- are best caught in the air 10 to 20 feet away from the blooms. Smilax is also the same- a native here but not cherished by gardeners. It brought me to my knees one day as I was unlocking the front door. Chamaedorea seifrizii is surprisingly fragrant- another one that I had to spend a lot of time sniffing the trail to figure out. For that matter, who knew palms were so fragrant? Dwarf sugar palm knocks me out- the "heady-est" of anything I've ever smelled. I almost need to get away from it for the sweetness of the smell. I was shocked the first time I smelled the night blooming sanseveria, "lady of the night." I had to go all the way to Belize to experience that. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, Peruvian Daffodil. I hope mine comes up, and I will keep the festalis in mind when shopping! Thank you, Ecrane.
Thanks Ecrane for explaining....I have another bulb that is showing a flower so hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to sniff it out again (there were 2 bulbs in the package, this is the other bulb to flower).
Do you happen to know how long before they rebloom? or was that it till next year?
F4F what's the Japanese Perfume Tree....I've never heard of that....is it the ylang ylang...I know they call that the perfume tree....I have the dwarf, the normal one and then the climbing one, but I have yet to smell any of those......I do have 3 buds on the dwarf ylang ylang though so my fingers are crossed, although i've heard various reports on that one too....some say it is fragrant...some say not so much....so we'll see.
Tea Olive is by far my favorite, I have 3, the common Tea Olive, the Fudingzhu and then an orange one...although it's not doing good at all...I bought it off ebay and paid a hefty price since it was unusual, but it has these white scaly things all over it and white fuzz and i've tried scrubbing it down and washing it with soaps and neem and so on....it keeps coming back. It just seems very unhappy.
I think you just get one bloom per stalk, then you have to wait til next year (one of the reasons I don't grow very many bulbs!) Hopefully your next one will be fragrant! I'd try checking it a couple different times of day, mine was a couple years ago so while I remember that it smelled nice, I have no idea what time of day I was sniffing it. Unless it was a weekend it would have most likely been morning or evening though since I work all day. I also don't think it was one of those things that wafts through the air, I had to stick my nose near it to smell it.
will do ecrane3....thanks.....I'll be sniffing all through the day and night...just in case! LOL
astcgirl - "has these white scaly things all over it and white fuzz" THAT just doesn't sound good. Did you notify the seller? Also keep it apart from your other plants. I'd post something in maybe the tree forum or pest forum (I think we have one of those). You might have to hit it with something heavier - although I'm a great fan of neem and soap. Maybe ask someone that knows better if the "white fuzz" can be spritzed w/an alcohol/water mix - so sorry you're having to deal w/this esp after paying a good price for it. I would most definitely contact that seller though...take pics if your able.
Yes I've been meaning to post it in the pest forum.....just waiting for my husband to come home from a work trip, he has the photos I took of it loaded on his laptop. I do have it isolated....I never contacted the seller....I guess I should at least ask them....it did come in good condition (although the scaly bumps were on it already...but I thought that it was just the bark so to say) it was rootbound but being the optimistic I am, I thought I could fix it. It has since lost most of it's leaves and is just hanging in there. I've never seen this on any of my other plants.
I just went to take a new picture....looks like I've been doing ok with getting rid of the "fuzz" it was a lot worse about 2-3 weeks ago....there's just a tiny big left...you can just see it on the photo
In this picture you can see the bumps....if i scrape my fingernail they come off.
Astcgirl- that looks like a pretty bad scale infestation to me.
The Japanese perfume tree is Chinese perfume tree, Aglaia odorata. I got it mixed up! The dwarf ylang ylang if it is the same one that I have smells like fermenting fruit to me- very very different from Cananga odorata. The climbing ylang ylang I like a lot, although I am not sure how mature it needs to be to produce flowers. I think it smells like sweet essence of apple. And Cananga odorata is unmistakable- wonderful!
On the up note..looks like, despite it being plagued with cooties, that it's putting on new growth. Please post those pics in a forum that can advise what to use on it. I've never dealt with scale so I don't even want to guess. Let us know how your baby is doing.
F4F - I've just recently planted some Cananga odorata seeds...which scent do you like better it or the Aglaia odorata you spoke of?
Tough choice. I don't know that I could decide. I had to have both.
I'd vote for the Aglaia odorata...for the simple reason that I can keep it alive and get it to bloom, neither of which have I had success with the Cananga!
astcgirl--normally I don't like to recommend systemic insecticides because of the bad effect they have on beneficial insects, but in this case I think it might be worth trying since scale is pretty tough and you've already tried some things and it keeps coming back. There's a Bayer product that is labeled for insects and mites and says on the front of the package that it lasts up to a month, that's the one I'd suggest since you can spray it on the plant and hopefully kill some things on contact, then it'll get absorbed into the plant and kill the rest of the scale as they suck stuff out of the plant.
Thanks everyone...I knew you'd all figure it out for me.....off to buy some of that bayer ecrane3 and give it a shot, the poor plant has been on time out for a couple of weeks now....
Ok the second bulb from the Peruvian Daffodil bloomed with two flowers...I checked, morning, afternoon and night and sadly no fragrance, it's also very humid here...there was a very slight smell, but nothing I would call a fragrance. It has been in bloom for 3 days so far, I tried each day. It could also be due to it being the first flower, but I'll have to wait till next year for the blooms again. Note that these bulbs were from lowes so even though they say on the package they are fragrant.....it's a big box store so I don't have as much faith in them.
My Dwarf Ylang-Ylang Tree (Cananga odorata var. fruticosa) finally got it's first flower but it's green and there is no smell....I was reading the PF and most of the flowers are yellow....hopefully mine will turn yellow soon and get some fragrance. There are a few different opinions out there... I guess I'll have to wait. I have it in my lanai in bright filtered light, maybe it needs more sun? it certainly is a very pretty flower though.
It will turn yellow when it is more mature. It may also get larger than that as well.
My Peruvian Daf came up yesterday and after sticking my nose in it I can say it is fragrant.
I imagine if you had about 50 of them blooming in the same area you would be able to notice a fragrance with out shoving your nose into it...it's there, just not very strong.
Mine came from WM and also say Ismene on the package.
I like the look of these too, but I think they would be much better planted in mass...alot of them.
Shellabella is this the first bloom you have gotten from them or have you had them a while? Still no fragrance from mine....is yours a pleasant fragrance? Is the fragrance close to any other flowers...ie gardenia / jasmine?
This is the first bloom 2 days old. I got the bulbs last month.
I ave to go smell it again so I can tell ya...lol
It was a bit stronger just now late in the day..
It is pleasant and a fresh fragrance. Lightly Lemon.....
