Yours are loaded! I don't think I've ever seen one so full of blooms. Am just starting to notice them on mine.

Will never forget the day I was chatting with someone while standing outside of his garden. I kept smelling that familiar sweet scent. I looked all around and it wasn't until I looked up that I realized the smell was coming from a 20' tall sweet olive.

I have 6 in the yard. 5 of them are just loaded with blooms. I can't go anywhere without smelling them. I hope they last through the weekend. I have company coming to visit.

I have 5 huge ones that have serrated edges to the leaves. They are just starting and will look like they are covered with snow. Last year you really couldn't see the leaves there were so many blooms. I also have another kind and it is in a huge pot. It is covered now and looks like the kind that token is showing. I like it as it will bloom and then stop and then every time there is a cold snap it will set and rebloom. There are a lot of different kinds. One blooms the entire summer. I am on the lookout for that kind next. My only worry is that I will get nothing else done except SNIFF ! c

I had them and loved them when I lived south of New Orleans. We called them sweet olive. I wanted one here in north MS but was under the impression they are not hardy here. I am in the Tupelo area, zone 7b. What is your experience in this zone?

This year the sweet olives are more covered in bloom than any year in memory. I don't know why this is, but I'm happy about it. It's one of my favorite smells ever.

Louisianagal,
Go ahead and plant them, they'll be fine.

My dad bought a home, and there was a nondescript green shrub near the patio staircase. Every time I walked up and down that staircase I was treated to the most delightful, delicate, delicious scent. It took me a YEAR to figure out the scent was coming from those tiny hidden flowers under the leaves. I planted one outside my bedroom window immediately, but alas, it does not get enough sun to do well.
Renee

I'm in zone 7b. Last winter, when it was exceptionally cold, I got a little dieback on the late fall growth. But otherwise, they've done great. I did mulch heavily the first winter. It was milder than this past one. We went for 3 weeks never breaking the freezing mark with nights into the low teens. I probably had to trim about 6" off the three exposed shrubs. I do that most of them in dappled winter sun next to a brick house.

Will have to look these up. I am zone 7A, so I am hoping they will work for me, too! I don't think I've ever seen one, unless it is known by a different name up north (grew up in PA).

I was so excited when I found one at Lowes last year! It hasn't bloomed yet, but the temps haven't dipped below 70 for very long either.

louisianagal, I'm in Batesville and mine has done well. It's evergreen and has put on a lot of new growth in the last year. I put down fertilizer spikes around all my trees in the spring, and I can really tell a difference.

I'm getting ready to prune mine a bit at the bottom. Can't wait for it to bloom!

It has always been on my 'must have' list but have just never gotten around to getting one or two or three :) - Since hubby and I are going to more shrubs and low maintenance gardening(old age taking its toll) it will find a way into our gardens. Living where we do I know I can have fragrant shrubs for year round smells - time to get going on that. We just bought 3 camellias for color in the winter .....

Lynne

I found some hidden blooms on mine yesterday. Aaaah what a beautiful fragrance!

Never seen these here (TN), but have a neighbor who asked about them, as a relative of theirs has one. I'll have to see if I can find one . . .

tina

May be pushing it a bit here (after reading a bit), but our winters have become much milder in recent years. I may try one in a container to start. I bookmarked a nursery with a variety that was said to do well on patios. It was also suggested they'd do well here on the west side of the house.

tina