Mimosa (Albizia)

Albizia julibrissin. 2003. Michele Denbar. http://grannymountain.blogspot.com.

Summer is a season of rich scents, but none hits me so powerfully as mimosas do on a humid evening. Just as lindens are waning, mimosa takes full stage, casting its similar rich scent out through entire neighborhoods for pollinators. Mimosa is a catch all for many small trees and large shrubs in the Fabaceae family with similar flowers and tree structures, but these are actually quite different from the other mimosas out there. The fragrance I believe is almost as effective as the Acacias of the tropical world, but without the thorns.

This mimosa is also called the Persian silk tree for its silky flowers, but in the U.S. its best known as mimosa (although not related to Mimoseae. The tree does happen to be native to Persia in its river valleys, but also appears all the way over to East Asia. Its the hardiest tree of its tribe, hardy to zone 6a, and flourishing in every space the climate allows it to grow. As it is a tropical plant introduction, it decidedly adds a tropical feel to temperate landscapes, resembling the Acacias of Africa, although smaller. It will grow to be forty feet tall in zones 7-9, but in zones 5b-6b, it barely makes it over twenty feet, with a larger spread to thirty feet. As it is borderline hardy, it is almost always the last plant to leaf out in my area (mid May), along with crepe myrtle. Its bipinnate leaves are stunning in their length, and like many other plants in the genus, close at night, folding down in appearance.

The flowers begin to appear about this time of year in June and can last up until late August, scenting the summer nights with an incredible fragrance. The flowers are what make these trees unique, as they are watermelon pink, very much like a puffball, and appear in clusters that are identifiable from far away. The ‘flowers’ are actually composed of many small flowers in a big puffball-like cluster. The individual flowers are small, with  small calyxes and corollas, but very large stamens up to two inches long. The flower nectar attracts bees and hummingbirds during the course of the summer, and at the end of the season produce seedpods characteristic of the Legume family.

The fragrance is almost indescribable in these, as its a center point between three fragrances. It seems to be the middle note between gardenia, sweet pea, and watermelon (or perhaps pomegranate…certainly fruity). Its a fragrance that begs for more, and I cannot resist it! Even a few flowers are enough to do the trick, but a whole tree bedecked in blooms is a true ambrosia. The scent is strong day or night, but seems to prevail in humid evenings.

There are many cultivars available of the species, but the standard are the pink blossomed kind, which are unfortunately invasive in the Southeast. I’ve seen many growing wildly in the foothills beneath the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and one would think it was the only flowering tree to grow in Knoxville if driving on the interstates in the city during its flowering period. Variants of this main species can have creamy yellow and white blooms, but this is generally uncommon. There is a redder variety called ‘Rosea,’ as well as a purple leaf variety called ‘Summer Chocolate.’ ‘Rosea’ is hardy to zone 5, and tends to end up as a twenty foot tree, while ‘Summer Chocolate’ is only hardy to zone 7, but is less floriferous.

I normally make a spiel about not growing invasive plants as standards, but this is one of the few exceptions I think we can allow for the sake of its scent. Do dispose of those seed pods though please!

Its hard to believe June is nearly over. There are so many plants I should have gotten to by now it makes my head spin, but I guess winter can always allow some catch up time, as unplanned for the bloom season as that is.

Fragrant Hydrangeas

Hydrangea quercifolia. Anne Norman. Wikimedia Commons.

Summer is right around the corner, and in my neck of the woods, summer is incomplete without Hydrangeas everywhere! Hydrangeas are native to the warm temperate and subtropical forests of East Asia and the United States, and there are many wild varieties. Garden hydrangeas are normally grown for colorful, big, bushy blooms, particularly seen in H. macrophylla. Who doesn’t love the big bushy blue to pink and all colors in between blooms? Your nose. That’s right! Those Hydrangeas you  normally love are not the fragrant ones in most cases.

The more colorful Hydrangeas are the Asian varieties, but in a horticultural world twist- the fragrant ones are the American varieties! Normally its the other way around (viburnum and osmanthus come to mind here) but the mold must always break somewhere. The American genus leading the way on fragrance is oakleaf hydrangea, H. quercifolia.The similar H. radiata and H. cinerea are also similarly fragrant.

Oakleaf hydrangeas are native to the Southeast, and grow in the Piedmont and coastal plains. Oakleaf hydrangeas are not modest plants, one specimen at the University of Kentucky arboretum was eight feet high with a ten foot spread, and that still isn’t the largest out there! They grow to be nearly thirty feet in the wild, and have a large open crown. In the wild, they often form large thickets, as the plant spreads via underground stems (stolons) and have identifiably cinnamon-brown, peeling bark. The large five-lobed leaves look similar to oaks (hence the oak leaf) but much larger- up to eight inches in length, and turn a brilliant red in fall. In summer (May-September), these Hydrangeas bloom with an odd spiked display- flowers are small ‘spiky balls’ in between petaled bracts that appear as the ‘flowers.’ The whole spike is nearly a foot long, and ages from white to pink to brown, where they will hang on all winter as the lower leaves drop off.

The scent is very interesting in these plants. Its brought out best by heat and humidity, and almost reminds me of a type of glue that was commonly used when I was a child (It was a bluish glue with glitter I assume to make it kid friendly?) Anyways, its a smell that is sour but extremely sweet, bordering on overkill, and cloys quickly en masse. Its not indolent like others, but cloying like privets are. I love them, but its not a scent I want in my garden come evening if that makes sense.

These plants are great in a forest garden or under planting for trees, and there are many cultivars (including dwarfs) available. I would avoid hot sun as these plants cannot handle drought and must be well watered and kept from wilting. Lastly, they are hardy in zones 6-9, and marginally hardy in zone 5.

Hydrangea radiata. Hectonichus. 29 June 2012. Wikimedia Commons.

H. radiata and H. cinerea are also native to the Southeast, but H. radiata is limited to the Southern Appalachians and H. cinerea spreads to the Ozarks. H. radiata is called the silverleaf hydrangea for its leaves being silvery on the undersides, and H. cinerea is called the grey hydrangea likewise for its grey pubescent leaf underside. The two both grow to be ten feet tall and have flowers in corymbs, blooming in June to July. Both plants can be cultivated in gardens, but silverleaf hydrangea is the more difficult of the two, as it requires cooler temperatures and more moisture than grey hydrangea, although it is showier.

Warm-season annuals

Tagetes erecta. http://riversidenurseryva.com.

Summer is all about warmth in the Northern Hemisphere, and come July, most parts of it are baking! This is when having a warm-season annual at your disposal is all too handy, as they can bake in the long sun and heat, and stay perfect as long as the season lasts, granted you water them of course! Not many of the hardy summer annuals are fragrant, or like Petunias, they are more fragrant when the sun is down, but these beauties will work for the heat and sun lover in all of us.

First are Marigolds. Marigolds are a universal summer bloomer, and are particularly popular in the Eastern United States as bedding annuals. I hardly know of a garden without any for the long summer haul. The whole species are Mexican natives, lending to their popularity in the Western hemisphere, I presume. The species most commonly used in gardens are T. erecta and T. lucida in the United States, but T. patula is more popular than the two for perfumery and culinary purposes, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. The scent of Marigolds is hard to pinpoint, as it is a resinous, herb-like aroma, with a pungeance that is very well received on the palate. Its a perfect mixture of herb, woods, and sweet, and blends well in teas, spices, and most importantly, perfumes. It is said to give an apple-like note in some mixtures, but it stands out much more as being woodsy to my nose.

Marigolds are fairly easy to grow, just preferring a full-sun and well-drained location. They are fairly hardy as well, and can be reseeded.

Related are Calendulas, another wonderful garden addition, with its own spicy herb mix to add to the gardens. They are not as fragrant as Marigolds, but are used also as salad garnishes. A yellowish dye can be distilled from these European natives.

Centaurea cyanus. Johnathan J. Stegeman. 20 May 2007. Wikimedia Commons.

A weedy annual grown more for color and medicinal value than scent is Cornflower. Endangered in its natural habitat and hated everywhere else, this little weed came out of obscurity from the British Isles. Now, Cornflower is a popular garden annual, particularly in Europe and the United States; and it is used to add flowers to summer and wildflower mixes, and makes for a nice cut flower as well. Several cultivars exist in colors from violet to pink. It has a light sweet scent, that is only detectable when the nose is thrown into a bouquet of it, and it adds nice color and flavor to herbal teas and salads.

Iberis sempervirens. Heron2. Wikimedia Commons.

If sweet alyssum is reserved more for cool weather gardens, then Candytuft is its warm weather sister. This small Southern European annual gets taller than sweet alyssum and does not spread as easily. The plants look similar and give a similar feel, but candytuft is more apt to take the heat. It has a similar scent without the cloying ability of sweet alyssum. It is a perennial in warmer and drier environments (i.e. without wet winters with hard freezes). I prefer it to sweet alyssum in look and scent.

Mirabilis jalapa. Woodlot. 9 August 2010. Wikimedia Commons.

Lastly, no mention of summer fragrant annuals should be made without including four o’clocks. These are the complete opposites of morning glories, as they open in the late afternoon and drop by sunrise, but not without leaving a sweet scent to boot. Four o’clocks are native to the Andes mountains in Peru, but are planted widely throughout the tropics. Four o’clocks feature an interesting ability to have multiple colored flowers on the same plant, and same flower even, but are not quite large enough to have a substantial impact on the garden. These summer bloomers are reliable as well, flowering up until the first frosts. In warmer environments, Four o’clocks shamelessly self-seed throughout gardens, becoming invasive.

Four o’clocks have a wonderful sweet evening scent, not reminiscent of the night bloomers, but more like a nice lily and orange blossom aroma. These are interestingly useful plants as well, having a whole list of medicinal purposes in their native environment.

So ends my break of annuals and back to the summer perennials and shrubs! Hopefully Lilies will come in the next few days- I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least hit daylillies and Asiatics soon!

 

Grape Flowers

Vitis riparia. Arthur Haines. 2014. https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org.

Grape blossoms are one of the rarest, yet most memory-stirring scents of the countryside. The grape family is known for its fruit, but its inconspicuous summer flowers are a treat in themselves. They have a scent much like the fruit they will become, with an odd muskiness that is accentuated particularly strongly in morning and evening. The fragrance is one that could honestly never be bottled, but is more memory stirring than most others I’ve come across in my life of nose sampling.

The species with fragrant flowers are all American natives. V. riparia is a common grape scrambling in moist forests and along stream sides in the Eastern United States. It has a rankish albeit sweet fragrance. V. vulpina, the frost grape, has an extremely sweet fragrance at evening, resembling concord wine. Both make nice wines of their own accord. The frost wine requires a frost before making wine, but makes a sweet wine with a high alcohol content. Wild grapes also have some herbal benefits and the leaves and bark are oft used in teas.

There are many others that can be listed as having slightly to strongly fragrant flowers of a wine-like accord.

Summer Blooming Magnolias

Magnolia grandiflora. DavetheMage. Wikimedia Commons.

Nothing says summer more than the scent of the summer blooming Magnolias! These trees are a staple of the American South, and are culturally significant to the region, being the source of many literary references, movie references, and perfume and candle scents. M. grandiflora has large flowers (up to one foot long) that are very fragrant of lemon, with a musky to rank undercurrent. Its a very endearing scent nonetheless, and a neighborhood bathed in the scent on a humid evening is one of the finer scents of the horticultural world.

The tree grows over a large region in the Southern United States by the coast. The larger trees are hardy to zone 8, but many cultivars are available on the market hardy to zone 6, like Bracken Brown and Little Gem, which happen to be minis. I’ve noticed many of these small cultivars growing here in my home of Lexington, Kentucky at a zone of 6b, and some have been known to grow as far north as Cincinnati, Ohio in zone 6a.  The trees are rarely higher than 30 feet in these locations however.

The flowering is over a wide period, from mid-May to September. The largest bloom occurs in June, but many trees will have a smattering of blooms throughout the season. The largest trees will grow to be up to 100 feet, but they are more common topping out in the 80 foot range. These evergreen trees are native to the moist forests and swamps of the Coastal plain, but can grow in a variety of conditions as long as they get water during establishment. Be warned that in marginally hardy areas, one good cold snap with wet soil conditions is enough to take out these trees. They are also intolerant of ice storms, due to their large evergreen leaves, and the branches will snap, as they did this past year in many places across the south.

Magnolia sieboldii. Daniel Mosquin. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca.

M. sieboldii has a bloom period much like the Southern Magnolia, blooming in late May and early June heavily, but continuing throughout the season with a small smattering of blooms. Its an East Asian native, and is national flower of North Korea.  It is a smaller growing tree, only up to 30 feet, and often only making it to large bush size. The flowers are 4-5 inches across, with striking red stamens, and a sweet smell. It is deciduous, but has nice large leaves in either case. Its a perfect small garden and courtyard specimen.

M. sieboldii is more particular about growing conditions, but it is hardier than the Southern Magnolia, and able to grow better in Northern gardens, as long as its not given a southern exposure which encourages earlier bloom. Its a rarer specimen, and I have never come across any in bloom in my home state of Kentucky.

Lastly, I apologize for the lack of posts on this blog. I am rather busy of late, and exhausted most nights. Please forgive me for my lack of reliable posts! Also, if I have not talked about a certain fragrant plant, feel free to give me suggestions for plants to detail!

Catalpa and Paulownia

Catalpa bignonioides. Le.Loup.Gris. Wikimedia Commons.

There are many copycats in the plant world, between plant families in particular, but also those outside. Both Paulownia and Catalpa share a similar look, growth habit, and flower shape- which is why I decided to lump the two together in one post. Oh and their fragrances are nearly identical as well. They are in different plant families and come from different areas, but with similar ecoregions.

Lets start with Catalpas. Catalpa is native to the Eastern U.S. and Caribbean, with a few species in Asia as well. The trees grow up to sixty feet and have large, heart-shaped leaves, and large, foxglove-like flowers. The flowers are followed by long, cigar-shaped bean pods. The wood of the tree is soft and branches rather brittle. The tree makes a wonderful specimen planting for its showy nature, but the seed pods are difficult to clean up after winter.

The two American species are the most popularly planted. C. bignonioides is the Southern Catalpa, native to central Alabama, but planted largely throughout the Eastern U.S. C. speciosa, the Northern Catalpa, is native to the Mississippi and Ohio river confluence region, but is also widely grown throughout the Eastern U.S. The trees are identical, save for the Northern Catalpa is less floriferous, but has larger, and more fragrant flowers. Northern Catalpa is also slightly more hardy, but both are hardy to zone 5. The fragrance is described as being sweet-pea like, but I tend to think it more on a jasmine side. In either case, it is sweet, but a fragrance that does not lend itself to spreading through air. The trees bloom from May to June, maybe as early as April in zones 8-9, and as late as July in zone 5.

Paulownia tomentosa. Famartin. Wikimedia Commons.

Paulownia, or Princess tree, is a stately tree in a landscape, but is unfortunately invasive in the Southeastern U.S. One drive down Interstate 75 from London, Kentucky to Knoxville, Tennessee is enough to verify this. It is another Asian native, with cultural significance in China and Japan, where the Genus originates. Paulownia is nearly identical to Catalpa, but grows larger, and flowers earlier in spring, with purple flowers that are larger than Catalpa blooms. The winged seeds come in egg-shaped capsules born after flower dessication. The trees have this distinction of producing extremely large leaves when in its early-growth stages, or after the tree is cut back. In these years, the tree does not flower.

The flowers are a light lavender color, blooming in mid-to-late April and early May for two weeks (Catalpa blooms later in the season for much longer). The fragrance takes a cue from Catalpa, but throws in a strong vanilla fragrance to boot, and unlike Catalpa, generously fills the garden with its scent. The wood from Paulownia has a strong significance in Japanese art as well, and is one of more the more utilized woods for crates and chests, as it is very light and workable, much like Catalpa. Lastly, it does have agroforestry uses, but is best in its home range in China and Japan.

If one were to compare the use of the trees side-by-side, its best to air with Catalpa in the states, as its native to the region, and has more colorful flowers.

Well May has come to and end, and I’m sad about how many plants I didn’t get to this month but there is always the future right? Tomorrow will be a post about the wonderful month of June and what plants to expect then!

 

Smaller Known Fragrant Trees of May

Cladrastis kentukea. Elektryczne jabłko. Wikimedia commons.

I looked down at my calendar today and realized that May is already half over, leaving me in a frenzy to figure out what to write about next! There are so many fragrant flowers and plants to detail right now I’m almost in agony! Trees, shrubs, flowers, the whole earth is fragrant, and every flower on the planet is begging for my sniffer to do its fair allowance! What can one possibly do in these fair days but enjoy the sunshine and fragrance? Well I’ll start by writing about three lesser known and grown plants with lovely fragrances I personally love that happen to all make for great landscape plantings.

First is our true native Yellowwood, Cladrastis kentukea. This is a quite rare American tree that favors limestone cliffs and exposed rocks that only the Palisades over the Kentucky river seem to best supply. In truth, they are native all over the Southeast, but in rather strangely scattered pockets over limestone rock in the region. They do grow and establish well outside the native range luckily, but I do rather like having one good horticultural claim to fame from Kentucky! The tree looks similar to our native Kentucky coffee tree, and is of the same family (Fabaceae), but it has round-ended, larger pinnate leaves, and long racemes of white flowers, similar to wisteria and black locust. The scent is light, similar to black locust flowers, but with a slight clover twist.

This tree happens to grow in many lawns and gardens around Lexington. There were some nice trees out front of the Garrigus building at UK, but they were unfortunately torn down last year. Another large specimen happens to be in the parking lot of Redmond’s Garden and Landscape Nursery, where I’m currently employed. The tree is a great ornamental tree for lawns, being medium sized, growing at best to fifty feet. The flowers have an odd habit of blooming in cycles of two to three years, with subsequent years bearing little to no flowers at all. This happens to be a dull year for yellowwood in the floral department unfortunately. Lastly the heartwood is yellow, which gives the species its epithet.

Chionanthus virginicus. CWJ Hayden. https://facultystaff.richmond.edu.

Blooming at the same time is Fringe Tree, Chionanthus virginicus. Chionanthus is a large genus, with trees and shrubs mostly confined to Southeast and equatorial Asia, with a few outlying species in the temperate regions. One of the best known of these temperate relatives happens to be another native,  Chionanthus virginicus, with very interesting flowers with long corollas (petals), giving the tree a ‘fringed’ look. The flowers have deeply lobed petals, giving them their odd needle-like look, but are rather beautiful nonetheless, being an ivory white. The leaves are unimpressive otherwise, but the tree is a nice horticultural addition to a garden nonetheless.

The fragrance of the trees is what is most spectacular, as its hard to define. Its an unusual scent that catches the nose quite surprised when walking under or near the tree, as the fragrance is hard to pinpoint. Its sweet but not floral, crisp, yet warm. Its like a mixture of lily and clean linen, but without the musk of either. Its certainly one of the more elusive and ephemeral scents of the season, and happens to be again, one of my favorites! In addition to the American species, there is an Asian species also widely cultivated, C. retusa. This tree grows much larger, but has the same wonderful flowers and scent.

Styrax japonica. Gondahara. Wikimedia Commons.

Lastly, most fragrant of all during the season are snowbells. Styrax is native mostly to Asia, with a few American species. This same genus also gives us Benzoin and Loban, both fragrant resins of biblical or other early times. These are also May bloomers, with a wonderful honey-like sweetness that borders on nirvana. The main species of olfactory interest in flowers is S. japonica. The flowers are perfect for a week, and heavily fragrant to boost, commanding the attention of many bees in the area. Standing under a full-blooming tree is a wonderful experience for the nose, and the fragrance is similar to the heaviness of orange blossoms and lilac. This species is sometimes grown as a lawn and garden tree, but otherwise is another strange horticultural interest plant.

Another fragrant species is S. hemsleyanus, native to China. It blooms later usually, but with a warm sweet fragrance all its own. It is not as powerful as S. japonicus. The American species, S. americanus, is sadly scentless, but makes for a nice shade-tolerant understory tree in moist areas.

May rolls on in the horticultural world! What a wonderful, yet busy month it is! If I don’t get to them before the end of the week, someone remind me to cover peony first chance I get. They have finally started blooming!