| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 12 2008 : 7:56:42 PM
I'm a Master Gardener and about 10 years ago, I planted this particular shrub behind my barn...I bought it at a little nursery in the spring simply based on the fact it was evergreen, fast growing, easy to grow, and the leaves are that pretty grey-green on top and kinda silvery on the bottom...but I was unfamiliar with any of the many other attributes! I read the tag, but it made no mention of the most important thing of all!
The fact it is amazingly, wonderfully fragrant!
Every year about this time, when I cross the creek to go to the barn to feed... there is the sweetest
smelling, very mellow fragrance wafting across the pasture at me...not the too loud smell of gardenia or the overbearing fragrance of paperwhites...but the most incredible, welcoming,
lovely fragrance ever!
The first year it happened, I went all over....searching...what WAS that? WHERE was it coming from? And, I finally discovered the source!
It was the unpretentious, easily overlooked for showier specimens, hardy, drought tolerant, tiny little blooms, fragrant....Elaeagnus!
Do you sleep with the windows up, screens in? My darling farmgirls, you must plant at least one of these shrubs right outside your bedroom, your screened in porch, your deck...to have something blooming every autumn, sweetly scenting the crisp night air for weeks, is absolutely heavenly!
livin' the sweet life! |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| magnoliakathy |
Posted - Oct 05 2009 : 5:41:21 PM
The nursery here called it "Sweet Olive" the botanical name is Osmanthus fragrans (Sweet Tea Fragrant Olive)The one I have in my yard, blooms whenever the temperatures drop in the low 70s. Evergreen, intensely fragrant, small white blooms. When this sweetie blooms I can smell it all the way to my from gate about 175 feet away. I planted it in the shade, because they had them under a huge oak tree at the nursery, mine is about 5 feet tall and I have had it for at least 5 years. I keep saying I should move it into more sun, but I can smell it in my family room and bedroom when the windows are open.
When you free your mind your heart can fly. Farmgirl # 714, |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 04 2009 : 07:24:35 AM
Hey,
Be sure and buy this shrub: ELAEAGNUS X EBBINGEI.
It is NOT invasive and simply wonderful in every little way!
It produces teeny tiny fragrant silvery white flowers in the fall. It doesn't grow wild, is not a thug, and it can be pruned into a formal, evergreen hedge. The foliage is silvery green.
It's absolutely the most heavenly scented shrub ever, and if I had a thousand of them...all blooming at once...it would be like paradise itself!
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/misstilliewillie
livin' the sweet life! |
| Betty J. |
Posted - Oct 03 2009 : 12:53:56 PM
Does Eleagnus have any bad habits such as being invasive?
Betty in Pasco (zone 6) |
| country lawyer |
Posted - Oct 03 2009 : 12:44:22 PM
I'm so glad I saw this post a few days ago. I headed to the nursery and bought one of each mentioned here! The silver berry and the sweet olive. I can't wait to get them in the ground and maybe next year I'll get to smell those sweet smells! Thanks for the recommendations! |
| cajungrammie |
Posted - Sep 22 2009 : 11:48:25 AM
I have a sweet olive shrub,well it is so big it is more like a tree.it is blooming now and the smell is so wonderful.i just love it.
Sometimes I think I know Everything!!Then I wake Up!! |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Sep 22 2009 : 05:14:22 AM
Well, it's that time of year! This shrub at my barn has grown enormous and is blooming as we speak...
The fragrance is heavenly!
I loved it so I planted a group outside my bedroom so this wonderful, sweet smelling aroma will waft into my
screened windows day and night~
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/misstilliewillie
livin' the sweet life! |
| Cabinprincess |
Posted - Aug 01 2009 : 7:09:17 PM
Here in TX we call them Sweet Olives also. I was walking through the Wal Mart nursery just a few months ago and smelled a wonderful light fragrance. A man was watering all the plants and I could not help but ask him if it was his colonge I was smelling. I said I'd never smelled anything so nice. Of course he turned bright red and pointed me toward the Sweet Olives, only 3 feet tall but only $5.00. I have them planted in my front yard but was sad I only got two. I will be getting more next spring. Your are so right Glory about the smell. It just wafts through the air with the lightest sweetest aroma. I don't think there is anything to compare it to. Great post to share.
Thanks!!
Smiles, Melody June
God's gift to you are your talents, your gift to Him is how you use them. |
| Annab |
Posted - Oct 21 2008 : 03:36:27 AM
This computer won't download pictures.
I'll just take everyone's word for it.
Might ask some plant people in my husband's horticulture section.
If this is the same plant you are right it's WAAAy more tolerable than gardenia.
that reeks! |
| Sandra K. Licher |
Posted - Oct 16 2008 : 10:17:35 AM
Glory, thanks for the pictures...beautiful bush! And Dawn...what a cool volunteer job! I used to drive by Morton Arboretum and went to school in Naperville....what a great place to volunteer!
Sam in AR..... "It's a great life if you don't weaken!"
Farmgirl Sister #226
www.farmgirlsam.blogspot.com |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 15 2008 : 09:39:54 AM
Dawn, where can I volunteer at a fragrance garden? That sounds wonderful!
I snapped some photos yesterday, so here they are!
livin' the sweet life! |
| daylily |
Posted - Oct 15 2008 : 06:39:29 AM
I was very interested in this, so thanks for posting the full botanical name!
I looked online and found this information http://www.maggiesgarden.com/Plant_Profiles/Plant_This/Elaeagnus_ebbingei/elaeagnus_ebbingei.html
Looks like a winner for the side of our garage!
Chris
Farmgirl Sister #346
http://refininglife.blogspot.com
http://organizedkitchen.blogspot.com |
| ddmashayekhi |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 6:26:17 PM
I work in the Fragrance Garden as a volunteer at Morton Arboretum. I'll have to ask the staff gardener if they have this growing there.
Dawn in IL |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 10:02:37 AM
My Aunt calls it russian olive...so I guess people call it different things! But no problem! It might have a couple of nicknames, and get confused with others in the same family...but if you want to know about the one I'm talking about...if you feel like taking the time to google it...ELAEAGNUS X EBBINGEI is the one I'm going on about!
I love, love it...and I highly recommend it to everybody that is looking for a carefree, easy, lovely green- silver, highly fragrant (without the SLIGHTEST hint of overly loud Gardenia!!!), evergreen shrub that blooms sweetly in the autumn of the year when hardly anything else is!
It is not thuggish, not weedy, does not set berries and is simply fab!
livin' the sweet life! |
| Homespun Livin |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 07:37:02 AM
Hmmmm....Okay Glory. I seem to have been mistaken. The shrub I am thinking of is called Fragrant Tea Olive, Osmanthus fragrans. This is what people around here call "sweet olive." I am so sorry that I confused everyone. My apologies. :)
"Love one another." |
| Homespun Livin |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 07:03:10 AM
Yes Glory, you are right. The sweet olive I am talking about is the same as what you are saying. Only around here we call it "sweet olive" because the fragrance is so sweet. Like expensive perfume. The shrub I was talking about never made berries either. I was thinking the blossoms were yellow, but they may have been white. It was a few years ago when I saw it. I have never seen it grow wild either. I would love to have some of it, but that $15 price tag keeps me at a distance. You wouldn't be willing to send me a start would you? :)
"Love one another." |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 05:57:08 AM
Here is the exact name of the shrub if you're trying to find the particular one I'm talking about at your nursery or local home depot:
ELAEAGNUS' X EBBINGEI
It's awesome!
There are so many varieties of everything...this should end any confusion!
livin' the sweet life! |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 05:36:40 AM
This shrub does not produce berries....you must be thinking of another!
It only produces
teeny tiny fragrant silvery white flowers in the fall. It doesn't grow wild, and it can be pruned into a formal, evergreen hedge. It's absolutely the most heavenly scented shrub ever, and if I had a thousand of them...all blooming at once...it would be like paradise itself!
livin' the sweet life! |
| Annab |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 03:45:46 AM
p.s.
I'm an animal keeper by trade but married to a Horticulturalist, (whew!) so I'm Hortus by proxy and have learned quite a bit in the 8 years of marriage!
Bragging rights this year go to egg plants that I started from seed and raspberries. Both are still blooming their fool heads off and producing an abundace! |
| Annab |
Posted - Oct 14 2008 : 03:41:37 AM
Oh brother!
That stuff grows like a weed aroud here!!
Is this also the same thing as Russian Olive?
If it is, this plant/shrub can be pruned and basically hacked down to mere twigs and it will grow back with a vengance.
It also sprouts red berries in the fall that are edible if you are into sweet/tart.
I have thought about trying an Ileagnus jelly, but don't have much gimption for collectin a basket full of tiny berries right now.
The smell is nice when its just 1 plant. Around here it's everywhere and a little too strong on some days.
However, I'll take this over Privet blooms any day! Those just stink like rubber tires!
NC is in Zone 7 I think
|
| Homespun Livin |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 09:44:30 AM
Yes. I do believe it is one and the same. I just didn't know the botanical name. So thanks for that info. I have been wanting a pair of those for the longest time. I saw some at the garden center and they are about $15 dollars each in a 1 gallon pot. Oh my.......you are not kidding when you speak of the fragrance! It smells absolutely wonderful. I saw a pair in front of a college campus building once. They were about 10 foot and still going. They were loaded with tiny yellow blossoms and the bees adored it!! I am in zone 8 and it is an evergreen here.
"Love one another." |
| lisamarie508 |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 08:26:06 AM
We have gotten down to -20 something. Even if I mulched it, the branches would probably die back to the ground. I'll just have to enjoy yours from a distance!
Farmgirl Sister #35
"If you can not do great things, do small things in a great way." Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
my blog: http://lisamariesbasketry.blogspot.com/
My Website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lisamariesbasketry/index.htm |
| LisaLu |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 07:48:32 AM
I'm in zone 10, do you think it could grow here?
Happiness is homemade... |
| misstilliewillie |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 07:28:48 AM
I've always called it russian olive...but it may be called sweet olive, too. I just wanted to make sure I put the botanical name so there would be no confusion as to exactly the one I was talking about!
livin' the sweet life! |
| Homespun Livin |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 06:36:01 AM
Glory,
Is that the common name of the shrub? It makes me think of sweet olive and I am wondering if it is the same? I love sweet olive, it's the stuff dreams are made of.
"Love one another." |
| Contrary Wife |
Posted - Oct 13 2008 : 05:43:23 AM
I do envy y'all climate to grow all those great things....but not the heat.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Badgebadger
MJ's Heirloom Mavens Bookclub Coordinator
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
