The wonderful fragrant Tea Olive Plant!

[dichosalocura]

Has anybody seen these wonderful strong fragrant smelling small shrubs?  They are called Osmanthus Fragrans in latin.  I had them in North Carolina, they smell wonderful and I bet they would do excellent down here since they prefer warm climates.  I could order seeds from NOB but they are really hard to sprout and may take up to 6 months with intervals of cold and warm temperatures.

[artsnob]

The Vivero on hyway going into San Juan Cosala had some about a year ago....

[dichosalocura]

Which vivero exactly?  Is it along the carretera or down one of the side streets into San Juan Cosala?  Thanks.  I've done searches in Spanish on the internet and Mercado Libre to no avail. The names I have for it are Osmanto Oloroso, or Osmanto fragrante, or Olivo Oloroso.  Maybe there is a local name for it here, but I would love to find one for my garden. 

[camillenparadise]

The vivero is on the carretera, just as you enter San Juan Cosala, and on your left. Big array of blooming plants out front, but the vivero itself is tiny and crammed with beautiful healthy plants! If you have a photo of this plant you should take it....I would love to have one too, based on your description, but I won't be there til August. Consider having lunch at Viva Mexico! when you go, the combo makes Tope Hell worth it!

[SunshineyDay]

Please be sure to furnish the rest of us with a picture. It sounds wonderful!

[dichosalocura]

Honestly, I bought 3 bushes when I lived in the mountains of North Carolina for my yard, they did terrible there, they barely survived our frigid winters, then I moved to Mexico.  I read that they do best from South Carolina down to Southern Florida, they prefer the tropics.  So, I bet they would do great here and they even grow great from cuttings!  They have a strong lingering smell, something like sweet apricots.  Their aroma is strongest during the afternoon, unlike our night jasmine or cestrum nocturnum that smells so strongly here, but only at night.

Here is a good description with a picture that I found on google:

http://boisdejasmin.com/2011/02/fragrant-plants-osmanthus-or-tea-olive.html

[CHILLIN]

My next exotic, highly fragrant tree is the Michella champaca tree. Sort of an Asian magnolia. I have space for four trees, but I have ten seeds. The Champaka is a holy tree and the next Buddha will be discovered under one (if you are of the faith). Even a small, 20 foot tree (after many years) will perfume a large area. I also have five White Wisteria (Wisteria sinensis white) seeds, but am now unsure if I want to take them on. Next year, I will try some Tree Peonies, which like the Wisteria, are real gardener trees.

http://thewildpapaya.com/?p=2824

[dichosalocura]

Well, today I went to the nursery behind Super Lake, and they didn't have any Tea Olives nor had they ever heard of them.  The lady had an iPhone and she looked them up and said that they looked cool and would look for them.  Then I went to the other nursery in San Juan Cosala,  The two ladies there had never heard of them, I speak fairly good Spanish, so I told them all about it and described the flower, the leaves and the fragrance.  They kept showing me different varieties of Jasmine asking me if it was that, or this.  I told them that I had heard that they sold the Tea Olives last year, and  they told me they get all kinds of plants in, and they never learn the scientific names.  She even let me talk to her son on her cell phone, and he didn't know what the tea olives were either, he thought it was a type of jasmine.  So far, I've had no luck in finding one.  I will probably have to order seeds on line and have them sent to me. But they say they are so hard to grow from seed.  I will try though.  Too bad I don't know anybody that has one who could sell me a cutting or two.

[babyface]

I know where you can get osmanthis (or tea olive)- yesterday we were at Flora Exotica (the vivero on the nw corner of the walmart traffic light) and saw maybe 4 or 5 smallish osmanthis bushes. Ask for Rosario ( nice and knowledgable, speaks english) for osmanthis and she will show you where they are.

[Yo1]

If Flora Exotica was smart, they'd order many different varieties and we could go crazy.  Some with pink flowers and others with holly-type leaves.  Beautiful plants.

[sue]

I bought one about a month ago at the nursery in west Ajijic on the water side just east of the where the Japanese gardens and the Italian restaurant used to be.

I went looking for it after this was first mentioned on the board,  It does have a wonderful fragrance. 

 

[dichosalocura]

I'm going over to flora exotica tommorrow to pick up mine!

Sue, when I had my 4 bushes way up in the mountains of Western NC, because of those frigid winters we had, my Tea Olives were doing all they could to just hang on.  They never amounted to much and barely produced much of any fragrance. How strong does yours smell, is it as strong as the night jasmine that everyone has here?  And when does yours smell the stongest, in the afternoon, or at night?  

Maybe, if this does good here, my next fragrant plant will be the cool looking Ylang ylang, Chanel 5 tree!

[sue]

I was only able to get a small bush and I have not had it long enough to grow The flowers have the strongest aroma in the late afternoon earlier in the day I could not detect any aroma and because it is small i had to get very close before I could smell it even at this time of day My night Jasmine is huge and the aroma covers a large area.