Osmanthus fragrans 'Fudingzhu'

'Fudingzhu' turns the usual tea olive up a notch. Where most sweet osmanthus scatter a modest few flowers among the leaves, this selection smothers itself in dense, bead-like clusters of small, creamy-white blooms, so freely and for so long that the name is said to mean pearls upon the Buddha's head, for the way the pale flowers crown the plant. The scent is the pure osmanthus perfume, a rich sweetness of ripe apricot and peach that carries on the evening air.

Like all sweet osmanthus, 'Fudingzhu' is an evergreen from the woodlands of China, here on a manageable frame of ten to fifteen feet, with leathery, glossy, deep green leaves that give year-round structure. The great virtue is length and weight of bloom: heavy flushes in late summer and fall, with scattered flowers possible through much of the year in mild climates, so few shrubs offer so long a season of fragrance on so tidy a plant.

The flowers of sweet osmanthus are gui hua in China, steeped with green and black tea into the fragrant osmanthus tea, simmered into syrups and jams, and folded into mooncakes and rice wine, while traditional Chinese medicine has long turned the dried flowers to warming, phlegm-clearing, and digestive uses. A profuse white-flowered clone like 'Fudingzhu' yields the scented blossom in abundance.

Site 'Fudingzhu' where the long season of perfume can be enjoyed at close range: beside a door, a path, a patio, or an entry where the evening scent gathers. The dense evergreen suits an informal hedge, a screen, a specimen, or a large container, and takes light shaping without complaint. Give full sun to part shade and moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soil, with afternoon shade in the hottest gardens, and pair with camellias and other broadleaf evergreens for a fragrant, four-season planting.