Slide Show: The Sweet, Sweet Scent of Autumn at Lan Su
The apricot colored and scented flowers of the fragrant sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans ‘Aurantiacus’). This species produces the flower used to scent Chinese osmanthus tea.
The orange-flowered sweet olive at Lan Su has been handsomely pruned over the years with multiple trunks.
Osmanthus heterophylllus ‘Aureomarginata’. The little white flowers in autumn are, of course, deliciously scented, but the warm, gold and green foliage really shines in winter! The new growth in spring is purplish-burgundy.
The venerable variegated sweet holly ( Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Variegata’) tree at Lan Su, which presides over the entry courtyard.
Osmanthus x fortunei ‘San Jose’ – not at Lan Su garden but looking pretty at my house. It’s a cross between O. fragrans ‘Aurantiacus’ and O. heterophyllus and it’s currently in full,
Osmanthus decorus (or so it appears) at Lan Su, just 20 feet north of the orange-flowered sweet olive.
There’s a fine selection of Osmanthus plants for sale at Lan Su right now – mostly from Gossler Farms Nursery, including that gorgeous little gold-leafed cultivar called Ogon.
