Jim,

Others with more experience can chime in, but I'm pretty sure these are all true tropicals; they need temps to be in the 50s or above. My michelia champaca gets leaf burn and damage when nights get into the 40s, and root rot is a real issue at those temps as well.

Technically, all can be grown in big pots -- I'm guessing the alba would be the easiest, the cananga the hardest, as it gets big and needs to be at least (6-8ft?) tall before blooming.

The other issue is how to give them enough light, especially in winter, even in a greenhouse environment.

I'd say your best bet is trying to contact Kew or the RHS or another big botanical garden to see if they grow any of these, and if so, where they got 'em.

Have no idea about the combined fragrance, I'm still waiting for my first champaca bloom! Dianica is outstanding, IMHO.

Good luck!

JimShy

Thanks very much for the response, No luck with finding a source for the tender michelias (now magnolias)for me, but I am lucky in having M. doltsopa and M. doltsopa 'Silver Cloud', m. dianica, and M. figo.

I have just discovered that a nearby (massive) planting has the Cananga odorata- the Eden Project in Cornwall. I would recommend any visitor to the UK from overseas investigating this unique garden.

Jim

Can someone who has both (M. champaca and C. odorata) tell me which one has nicer smell? Subjectively of course.

I have both M. Alba and Ylang ylang. I have to say I prefer M. Alba much more, but it's a scent that I grew up with in Asia.

On the hardiness issue. Mine are planted outdoors with no prob. The M. Alba is a taller than I am now, and I grew it from something that was 4 ft tall. YY is still pretty small.

Have you tried looking in asian markets in the UK? Here in the US, chinese markets are places where you can reliably get M. Alba for sure. YY is a little harder.

Good luck.

_A

I agree with grow_power. The M. alba is more fragrant than the C. odorata.

While both trees have powerful fragrances that can reach large distances, it is the sweet, tropical, fruity, banana-apple like scent of the michelia alba that I'm addicted to.

If you prefer a more 'feminine' fragrance however, the Cananga odorata's sweet and refreshing citrus fragrance with tamarind overtones will be a better choice. It grows into a very large tree in tropical climates and its fragrance is strongest just after sunset.

tropical

Hi all. Having trouble with my Shenbagam (tamil name for Michela Champaca). I am in Chennai. The plant in the pic is the 2nd sapling of Michela champaca in which the leaves are turning black and starting to dry/wither off...anyone can help as to the cause....? attaching a pic of the stem as well...

Hi jimn nice to see some one from England here :) I grow a crazy list of fragrant plants and i can tell you that both Michelia (Magnolia) champaca and M. x alba are true tropicals, with champaca being slightly more hardy then the alba form. It is still possible to gown them in pots and give them winter protection. I move mine into frost free greenhouse set to go no lower then 5c and they do fine. If you can find it go for Magnolia sirindhorniae just as fragrant as alba but more cold hardy! You might even get away with it out doors down sunny devon. I have tried growing
Cananga odorata and although it grows fine i do not believe we have the length of summer time to get it into flower i have had far more luck with the ylang ylang vine

Lol having written all that! i just realized how old this post is :P

I ve had the yellow michela, the michela Alba and the ylang ylang. The yellow michela and the ylang ylang grow well from fresh seeds. If you want to go that route, top tropicals or Tradewinds tropical seeds should have seeds. Gardinos has all 3 as plants, not sure if they can ship overseas. These are all fast growing big trees ;)

As as far as fragrance, I had the 3 in a front yard (well the yellow was technically in my neighbors yard). They all seemed to go thru bloom cycles and actually didn't seem to bloom at the same time. The yellow really did seem to smell like joy perfume, the Alba smelled just like juicy fruit gum, and the ylang ylang smelled very similiar to bath & body works ylang ylang products. I liked them all about equally. For comparison, some of my favorite scents are jasmine maid of Orleans and Brunsfelsia gigantica.

can anyone advise where one can purchase a michalia champaca/alba plant, either in the UK or EU, i keep searching, only get US hits? Any suggestions will be appreciated

Hi no one in the Uk sells either! but you can buy other Michelias but not them two! Your best bet is here but you may have to translate the page as it is German or try ebay http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.pflanzenkindergarten.de/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwww.pflanzenkindergarten.de%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D5GS%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26channel%3Dnp