Interesting. My sweet olive's new grow is in deep burgundy color too. I thought it is a normal color for the new leaves.

I didn't have sweet olives long enough to see that color so I dunno. I'm having to start all over again at the new house in central Texas. Hopefully, I'll stay there long enough to see orange blooms of sweet olive that I brought with me. I didn't have much luck with the ones in the ground at the old house due to dumb mistakes (not protecting from very cold weather or protecting from very hot weather in full sun). My new backyard faces south so that will work in my favor a lot better than the old house when it comes to winter protection.

Lou, When your orange color sweet olive blooms, it should be very fragrant. But if it is a Yue Yue Hong ( redflowers every month) , or Yue Yue Xiang (fragrance every month) type, then the scents will be a little weaker, but is still very nice and strong. I am very interested in Sweet olive... It brings back childhood memories... Please share your comments of its scent when it is in bloom.

Here is my new leaves color that I took picture yesterday.

Lou,
Recently my daughter and I took a ride up to Columbia to go to the zoo.
Before we were leaving, they closed at 5, I walked past a bush that smelled soooo good, even stronger than my sweet olives at home.
I turned and saw a 18 foot tall and 10 feet wide real dark green leaved sweet olive, with gorgeous ornge flowers all over it.
It was darker green than my fragrans, but it was defiantely a sweet olive tree, and boy did that smell great!
So, if you get the chance for another addition, try the orange.
I am seriously considering buying one next spring, I would have to dig up another shrub to place it. LOL!
I love sweet olives!

Does anyone know where I can get one of these? I would love to add one to my collection for sure!:-)

Very nice.

Mike

Butterfly,

Stephen F Austn State University arboretum has a bunch of orange sweet olives that are around 12 ft tall or so and I was at their plant sale a few years ago. I took a stroll through the arboretum and noticed this sweet fragrance wafting all over the place. It took me a while to figure out that these came from orange sweet olives. Very nice!

Mike, what do you mean by where you can get one? I got one from www.nucar.com

Where can I get an orange flowering Osmanthis like the one pictured in this thread? I love it, not a new car. Car was never mentioned in the thread, was it? lol

Mike

Heh.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nurseries Caroliniana

Lou, ok now that I am fully awake after days of taking care of my father and being over worked, I did catch the first sentence of your post at the top of this thread....Now, where was my brain? Heh!lol

Thanks a bunch. I shall be spending more money this week again.

Mike

Dang Lou!

You have to spend 25 dollars or more to be able to get a plant shipped. Now, what to do?

Spend the money and pay teh oil bill, or pass up until next spring?

Hi Mike,

I assume you were looking at the regular orange one that costs 18 dollars? The reblooming orange is 30 dollars so you'd be over the limit. As I understand, the rebloomimg orange type is rare. Not sure how many they have available. There's another orange (or supposedly more orange-red than typical)Beni Kin Mokusei that is 45 dollars. I looked for other places. A couple were out of regular orange sweet olive. One place requires minimum purchase cost like Nurcar. I guess back to Nurcar as your option unless you can find other sources like ebay?

Lou, not considering cost and taking in fragrance as a plus, which one pleases you the most and why again?

Thanks a bunch.

Mike

Mike,

Not sure if you know this but the orange would have to be at least 4 ft tall in order to bloom. The one I have that I got from nurcar last year as one gallon size is only 2 ft in a 3g (or 5?) which I'm glad that I didn't plant in the ground. I got the reblooming orange last Friday is bigger than the regular orange! If you have money to burn, you may be able to get larger size by emailing them to see if they have them available so you don't have to wait 2-3 years before they start to bloom.

My only experience with the orange ones was when I took a stroll through the arboretum when the large ones happened to be blooming at the right timing. That got me hooked and bought one but it's not big enough and probably will take 2-3 years before they reach certain size to start blooming.

Well, I can tell you are in love with the 'orange' one.

You see, here is my issue...I like the regular osmanthus, but they flower hardly at all and don't smell that strong, and that is why I got the , ok, I hope I spell it right, 'Fugitsu'...lol This one flowers like mad and smells so strong!

Now, if I get the BIG orange one, I think it will do the same, right?
If I get the 'rebloomer', it will be just like the regular Osmantus with very few flowers and a weak scent.

I do love the burgendy leaves though as they grow. I have a tough decision to make...

If I get the 'orange' one, then I will have to save my money and go for the bigger one.

Thanks so much for your experience on this.

Mike

Well, this is certainly a surprise. I had to confirm it with a grower since the information was not on the catalog initially. The rebloomer plant do start flowering much earlier than regular orange one. It's only 2 feet tall. Wow...

Thanks for the update, Lou!

Do you have a picture to share?
What's your thoughts on its scent compared to the regular orange variety?
Of course I'm tempted though my Osmanthus fragrans 'Fudingzhu' is starting to pump out blooms again. :)

-Robert

Robert,

I can barely smell its fragrance. Maybe not yet fully opened. I'm afraid I'll have to let you know about my regular orange one in 2-3 years. Lol. So far, the color is creamy orange. Not really orange.

I must admit that these new leave color is pretty cool.

Here is "Ri Xiang Gui" Daily Fragrance I got from China via eBay. Boy, that was tough one to try and bring back from death! Nice fragrance. Seems very robust once established in the container back from near death.

Lou, don't feel bad. My regular one is in full bloom and this year I can barely smell a thing. I don't get it with these plants.

One minute it can smell an entire area, and then the next, you can't smell anything. At least you have some great color in the leaves. Beautiful.

Hello Robert:-)

Mike

Thanks for the scent update, Lou!
Let's hope the scent gets stronger as the blooms mature.
I suppose I should be happy with the sweet olive I have for now. There's always next year! Hee hee.

Hi, Mike! :)

-Robert

Thanks Mike!

Robert, I have a large Fudingzhu that I paid extra from Nucar but so far, it's not too happy in the container. :-( . Perhaps, just a bad container mix or something I made for the large container. I'm going to plant it in the ground once we move into a new house in a few weeks. It looks like I have good growing outdoor area for these plants at my new house compared to the old house.

Lou,

I hope your Fudingzhu makes it! I have mine growing in Al's fast draining 5:1:1 mix but eventually plan on planting mine in the ground as well in spring when it gets larger. :)

-Robert

Lou, Robert, I am so jealous that you can plant Sweet Olive in ground... I would plant them all around the house, front, back, sides...
Lou, congrats on your moving to a better house...

Yes Lou, to go along with Robert, both mine are in the same mix that Roberts uses and mine are very happy!

Hello Robert and Olympia!

Yes, I'm quite familiar with Al's 5-1-1 mix but I don't think I did it right for the big pot. Others are doing pretty good. The watering part can be a pain during the summer esp if you have to go away for a while when it gets very hot.

I know that experience quite well!
Whenever we go on vacation in the summer I have to put all the potted plants around a sprinkler set up to an automated timer. Almost makes you not want to leave at all. ;)

-Robert

Looks like it is peaking right now. Here's the latest picture. Showing a bit more orange color...

Beautiful! Thanks for the update, Lou.
Has the scent increased or can you still barely smell it?

-Robert

That IS really pretty! I like the color!

Robert,

Thanks. The fragrance was a bit stronger. Perhaps the fragrance will get stronger as it gets bigger with more blooms growing in the ground. I got email back from the nursery saying it's very fragrant so who knows? Time will tell. I wonder how they discovered this plant?

Thanks Jodik. It sure is a nice surprise. I thought I'd have to wait 2-3 years for that to happen. Lol. Money well spent!

It's kind of an unusual color... I don't see many orange blooms in my area... except for roses, or daylilies. But it's not a common color for trees or shrubs, that I can recall at the moment. I really like it. I may have to add it to my wish list!

Yes, I'd say money well spent!