i already have the regular size tree, now i'd LOVE the dwarf sized one, PLEASE :') ~Medo

I bought a C. Fruticosa because it is a dwarf variety (10-15 ft height) and could not have the preferred C. Odorata, which is a very large tree (50 + ft in height) in my garden. The smell of the Fruticosa is a very subtle lemony fragance, mostly felt in the calm of the morning in my area. The flowers are first green in color and will not be fragrant until they turn yellow. It also needs temperatures of 85+ F and humidity, which is no problem in South Florida, where I reside. I regularly visit a botanical garden in my area where they have a huge C. Odorata (Ylang-Ylang) tree and when it is in bloom, the fragance is much stronger and nicer than the Fruticosa I have. It fills the surrounding area with its delicious fragance but there are many more hundreds of flowers on this tree than on my dwarf variety. I also bought a Michelia Champaca (Joy perfume) which has orange flowers and is not as "delicate" as the Michelia Alba (white). I bought it 2 years ago, and it is now about 8 ft tall. This spring, it flowered for the first time. A few scattered flowers mainly in the lower (older) branches. This fragance is definitely much nicer and stronger than the C. Fruticosa. I cannot wait until it grows more mature and gets full with flowers. This tree has a nice structure (similar to a Christmas pine) and can grow to about 25-30 ft. I planted it just outside the patio so we can enjoy the fragance from inside. I hope this was helpful.

I have 4 Michelia Alba, I bought them at a Chinese Nursery located on Lincoln and Batavia, it's got a house type front, they have a lot of them there. I ordered my Ylang Ylang from http://www.rareflora.com/ in Florida. It hasn't bloomed, but it's still alive. If you want to know anymore just email me. angelhairr@roadrunner.com Where do you live? Marilyn

Hello Angelsmell, I'm reading all these posts with great interest. Cananga is a native here in northern Australia but I can't seem to find var. fruticosa anywhere but I'm not going to stop trying;). Perhaps I can shed some light from my experience. I tried for ages with seed from exchanges, clubs, trades etc. I was never able to get them to germinate. Tried scarifying, acid treatment, giberrelic acid, even tried feeding some to the chooks (sorry, chickens) to see if they would germinate in the droppings. No good. Finally got on to the bloke who is the head of the seed collection dept. for Queensland parks and wildlife. Turns out that seed is only viable for a very short time. I got some from him and planted it all into a large foam box, put it into my shadehouse and had seedlings on the warmer side of the box in three days. They grew very quickly but being an unnatractive seedling I had a hard time giving them away. Now that they are flowering everyone wants one!! I had no idea how long they would take to flower but was very pleasantly surprised to see flowers early in the second year from seed!! They are now three years old, nearly 20 feet tall and almost constantly covered in flowers. I will harvest my first seed from them this week. We had a cyclone (hurricane) through here about a year ago, it was preceded by three or four weeks of torrential rain which softened the ground around the tree's roots. The canangas were leaning over until they touched the ground in the wind. One was over the washing line so I tied it up using two strong ropes. This tree now grows extremely crooked while the ones I didn't tie up in the cyclone are straight as arrows. I keep meaning to cut the top 10 or 12 feet off it so it will grow straight again but I can't catch it out of flower for long enough. My wife and my neighbours would ban me from the chainsaw if I cut it while it was covered in flowers. I hope this helps a bit, we are pretty troical here and I don't know what your climate is like. Regards, Brendon