Tea Olive (Osmanthus fragrans ) hedge in zone 7a?

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

I absolutely love Tea Olives. I would like to use them as a privacy hedge between our upper and lower garden. I'll need purchase 10 plants if I move forward with this plan so I want to make sure they'll survive before I spend a fortune. The site gets full sun most of the day with just a smattering of shade in the late afternoon. I'm in zone 7a, Orange County VA. Anyone have experience with growing tea olives in zone 7 or experience using as a hedge?

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Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
6 years ago
Unlikely to be reliably winter hardy for you....it is even somewhat iffy in my very mild climate. It is the least cold tolerant of any of the osmanthus species or hybrids. You might have better luck establishing a hedge of Osmanthus delavayi or x burkwoodii. Similar intense fragrance but spring bloomers.
C&T Brooks (VA, Zone 7a) thanked gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
sabut
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
I have one 10' tall OF that survives here without winter protection or summer watering at all. New leaves do get damaged by cold but the old ones stay ok.

I also have 4 new tiny OF I planted a year ago. All survived the winter without protection. Although one of them (the one on the site least protected from winds) dropped all of the leaves and I carefully covered it by plastic bucket every night below freeze temperature when it started to grow buds. Now it seems fine but most of the last year's growth is dead.

I guess I am in a pretty similar climate as yours, maybe just 5 degrees warmer in the winter. So I think a lot depends on a particular site where you plant your hedge. If it has adequate protection from winds you may be fine. Not all cultivars are equal for winter hardiness, but I have no data on that. The one that dropped the leaves is "Tian Xiang Taige", but I have another one that was fine in a more protected spot. Not all cultivars would be suitable for hedge either. From what I have, the big plant of unknown variety is rather vertical, as well as "Ri Xiang Gui". "Tian Xiang Taige" tends to sprout new trunks from the base, so it may work better as a hedge. I do not know about the rest of cultivars.
C&T Brooks (VA, Zone 7a) thanked sabut
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Osmanthus like hot and humid in the summer, and protecting them from winter is the key. It's been a while since my wife lived there and I visited (dating at that point), but I'm pretty sure you're fine temp wise. Home Depot doesn't typically sell things that are half hardy... though even in Georgia Michael Dirr said he had some dieback from year to year. They will get to Lilac size, and although you can prune them, Osmanthus flower on old wood, so pruning will delay or stop flowering for some time (could be years according to wikipedia). So I would try to site it in a place where can grow uninhibited (6-10' tall and wide). The main object in protecting plants in winter is desiccation of leaves. You're not going to do much about minimum temperatures, so focus on keeping the plant from drying out in winter. Being evergreen the plant needs to provide some moisture all year round, so planting somewhere with more sun is probably better than less. At least my theory is that the top couple inches where most of the roots are may stay unfrozen longer if it's in the sun. Cold means low humidity, and wind exacerbates that. So if you can plant it out of the wind, i.e. not out in a field, protected closer to a house or wind break it will help. Realistically getting the plant established as it's already mid summer is more important than anything else; I'd make sure it gets enough water to put out some good root growth to prepare it for winter. Maybe some slow release osmocote or compost on top, nothing strong, but to encourage the roots to spread out. Here's a pic from LSU, you can see they've got it up against a large radiating heat source (brick etc...) so heat isn't an issue as long as they have the moisture and nutrients to make use of that heat. And you can see what they mean by "shrub", it's really a small tree... This post was edited by ocelaris on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 12:30
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Maggie (Vancouver, BC 8a)
6 years ago
I’ve tried o. fragrans three times & they could not survive our winters. I wouldn’t risk it as a hedge if it were me; even if it made it through a mild winter, a bad one would take some out & leave you with a gap.

I’ve had success with named cultivars (eg. Nanjing Beauty), even in pots, so they should do well in ground.

I also have tougher osmanthus such as burkwoodii and delavayii. There is a fragrance but it does not compare. They are however more dense in growth and would make a nice hedge

Tea Olive (Osmanthus fragrans ) hedge in zone 7a?

Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

sabut

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Maggie (Vancouver, BC 8a)

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