Osmanthus fragrans f. AURANTIACUS fragrant olive, sweet olive, sweet tea

Aurantiacus, sometimes also called simply rubra, is a valued selected form of sweet olive which offers perhaps the strongest scented flowers. They are small, rich orange and their perfume also resembles orange zest and tangerines. It blooms profusely from the very end of the growing season, usually from early October until the frosts, providing the last feast of bee-food.

It grows into a medium-sized to large, upright shrub with smooth, gray branches. With age, its shape gets more rounded, forming a widely oval habit. It can be pruned or trimmed in any way, preferably in the spring after frost. Summer trimming is not recommended due to presence of late summer flower buds. Use it as a unique specimen shrub, in a mixed bed, or in an evergreen hedge combined with other evergreen shrubs of different features. Sweet olive is a long-lived shrub or small tree, a specimen is known to have lived for over 1200 years.

Grow osmanthus in moist but well-drained, humus rich, preferably acidic soil. Provide plenty of mulch for winter to protect the roots from fast freezing. It loves full sun but in colder regions find it a location sheltered from late winter and early spring sunlight but with plenty of light during the growing season. Use only plants with mature wood in zone 7 and transplant it no later than late summer in order to avoid frost damage after the first winter. Soi far we have tested its hardiness down to -17 °C without significant damage (USDA zone 7), only with some sunscorch after its first winter. Further trials continue. It does not suffer from diseases, but vine weevil can be a problem.

Last update 15-01-2023