I have the Osmanthus heterophyllus 'gulftide' grown as outdoor shrubs. The bloom is fragrant, but I've not paid much attention to it.

The leaves are really spiky and the plants are good as foundation planting.

I have a kaori Hime from last year, it's adorable! but it's really small, leaves are like 1/4" to 1/2" at it's max. It didn't bloom this year, but it was it's first year too. The deer/rabbits try to eat it, but it's very prickly, so we'll see how long it survives! The other Osmanthus fortunei and fragrans I have took a beating the first week the temps dropped into the teens, but seem to be ok now after that first spell. The o. heterophyllus versions didn't seem to have any effect except that the rabbits keep trying to nibble on them.

Their web hosting got hacked,(nurcar.com) so I've been unable to see their site. I've been in email contact with them and hopefully they'll be back up for the spring. I will certainly be getting a few more of the kaori hime (they said they would have more).

During the 1990 winter here (featuring single digit lows beyond the near the beach, saltwater banana belt) holly-leaf osmanthus was one of the broad-leaf evergreen shrubs (along with hardy hybrid rhododendrons, heathers etc.) that stood out for being pretty much impervious to the cold.

E. fragrans and its hybrids are not as hardy, with E. fragrans in particular being prone to not hardening off adequately in fall - looking generally like it is not a northern adapted, cold climate shrub at all.

This post was edited by bboy on Mon, Dec 22, 14 at 16:45