If, as you stroll around the Village Center this September and October, you smell something wonderfully sweet and fruity, you are likely to be near an Osmanthus fragrans, or Fragrant Tea Olive. This large evergreen shrub appreciates some shelter here in the Piedmont; it will grow to 20 or 30 feet in the Coastal Plain, where it is hardier. Someone described the scent of its tiny flowers as "like peaches being cooked." The bloom time in fall can last two months. Sporadic early spring blooms are not unusual. If you look carefully near the gate of the Inn and between McIntyre's and the Granary, you may spot the orange-flowered cultivar, Osmanthus fragrans auranticus. Our plants are young, but both have flower clusters.
In October, we can expect to smell the next Osmanthus species to bloom: Osmanthus x fortunei, or Fortune's Osmanthus. This one has holly-like leaves with spine-tipped teeth. We have a massive specimen in the border beyond the White Garden. It, too, has very fragrant tiny white flowers. If both species are blooming at the same time, see if you can smell the difference.
The Fearrington Gardeners