Now that the cooler nights have arrived, and the days are shorter, my wonderful tea olives (Osmanthus fragrans) are blooming.  These shrubs are evergreen and quite mature but sit in a corner of the garden where they are ignored most of the time. So the fragrance from them caught me off guard as I wondered around the garden. Fortunately they hide near the deck and I will be able to take advantage of the scent while enjoying early morning tea or a cocktail on a mild evening.

The shrubs are around six feet in height now, and really need to be pruned but that is a job for next year, because the tiny yellow blooms will give out fragrance all through the winter.

In general these are very trouble free shrubs, and have managed without any extra water during the extended drought that North Georgia has experienced.  In the grand scheme of things, they are definitely a keeper for my garden. Unfortunately this is perhaps the most northerly area that it will grow, as it is formally listed as being from 7b and warmer, which translates to the southern states only.