Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 16 Sep 2024

What is the Jasmine Oil made of?

French Perfume Jasmine, Poets jasmine (Jasminum officinale)

✨ What is the Jasmine Oil made of?



🌞 French Perfume Jasmine, or Poets jasmine (Jasminum officinale) is the most popular jasmine in the world as it is the source of the original Jasmine essential oil.

🌞 There are two varieties - with single flower (Jasminum x grandiflorum - it has larger size flower and is more rare) and double flower ( Jasminum officinale Flore Pleno). They are very hard to tell apart when not in bloom as the leaves look the same, but the flowers differ (see video).

🌞 Essential oil of this jasmine is one of the most important components in perfumery.

🌞 Grown in the perfume fields of Southern France.

🌞 Semi-evergreen to deciduous vine with lots of fragrant white flowers in spring, summer, and fall.

🌞 Drought tolerant and hardy, it has good tolerance to a wide range of temperatures and is easily maintained in pots.

🌞 Jasmine associates nicely with climbing roses, honeysuckle or clematis, but it looks superb grown on its own.

🎥 The difference between the double and single flower varieties.



🛒 Shop French Perfume Jasmine

#Hedges_with_benefits #Perfume_Plants

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Date: 29 May 2025

A Plumeria you can train to climb? Fragrance on the fence - the climbing Frangipani

Chonemorpha fragrans - Frangipani vine

💮 A Plumeria you can train to climb? Fragrance on the fence - the climbing Frangipani...

💮 Twelve-inch leaves and a perfume cloud? Yes, it's real. Chonemorpha fragrans, or Frangipani vine, is a large woody tropical liana with clusters of large, perfume-fragrant flowers and lush green foliage. It is close related to perfumed Plumeria - Frangipani.

💮 Chonemorpha fragrans, the stunning Frangipani vine is a classic tropical woody climber, Plumeria's wilder cousin, bursting with huge, lush leaves (up to 12 inches long!) and clusters of intensely fragrant, creamy white flowers that smell just like your favorite Plumeria.

💮 Unlike its tree-form relative, this beauty grows as a vine and needs a strong support to climb - think fence, trellis, or pergola.

💮 Plant it in full sun for the best bloom show, though it's happy in partial shade too.

💮 With the right care and some fertilizer, it will turn your garden into a fragrant paradise and stop guests in their tracks. Plant it by your sitting area, and enjoy nature's own perfume drifting in the breeze!

🛒 Add Frangipani perfume to your fence

📚 Learn more:


Plant this vine over a fence to bring fragrance into your garden
Can Frangipani be a vine? How to bring fragrance into your garden

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Hedges_with_benefits

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Date: 1 Jun 2025

Which Champaka tree is better - White or Golden?

✍️ Which Champaka tree is better - White or Golden?



🏆 Golden or White Champaka - Which Tree Should You Choose?
Both the White and Golden Champaka trees are prized for their intoxicating, fruity fragrance - often described as smelling like sweet bubble gum. Their blooms are famously used in the creation of Joy, one of the world's most expensive perfumes. While they share many similarities in scent and beauty, there are key differences between the two.

⚪️ White Champaka - Magnolia (Michelia) x alba (in the video) is a sterile hybrid between Magnolia champaca and Magnolia montana. Because it does not produce seeds, this variety is always propagated through grafting or air layering. One major benefit of this is that grafted White Champaka trees begin blooming right away, even when they are still small. This makes Magnolia alba a more reliable and consistent bloomer from a young age.

⚪️ White Champaka is also more compact and slower-growing than the Golden variety, making it especially suitable for container growing and smaller garden spaces.

🟡 Golden Champaka - Magnolia (Michelia) champaca is the original species and grows from seed, which means it typically takes a few years to start blooming. However, it has an edge in cold hardiness and is more tolerant of cooler temperatures compared to the White Champaka.

🟡 Golden Champaka tends to be more vigorous and taller, making it a better fit for larger landscape plantings where space and height are not limiting factors.

✍️ In Summary:



✔️ Fragrance: Both smell similar - like fruity bubble gum - and are used for perfume.
✔️ White Champaka: Grafted, blooms sooner, compact growth, ideal for pots.
✔️ Golden Champaka: Grown from seed, blooms later, more cold tolerant, vigorous growth.
✔️ Both trees are exceptional choices for Southern gardens. Whether you choose the early-blooming, compact White Champaka or the hardy, golden-flowered original, you'll be adding one of the most enchanting perfume trees to your landscape. Plant both!

See side-by-side comparison of the 2 varieties of Champaka trees in the next post👇

🛒 Plant Champaka trees and always have your own Joy Perfume

🎥 Magnolia (Michelia) x alba, White Champaka
Golden Champaka: video 1 and video 2

📚 Learn more about White and Golden Champakas:


What tree to plant for wonderful fragrance?
What does Joy Perfume flower smell like?

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 25 Jul 2025

Perfume in a pot: exotic Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree

Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang Tree, Chanel No 5 Tree

Perfume in a pot: exotic Dwarf Chanel No 5 Tree



⭐️ The Chanel No. 5 tree in a pot? Yep.
Cananga fruticosa - Dwarf Ylang-Ylang Tree, is the compact cousin of the famous perfume tree. It has the same elegant, drooping flowers that smell like the original Ylang-Ylang - the scent behind Chanel No. 5 - just in a smaller, easy-to-grow version.

⭐️ It stays nicely shaped like a little tree, blooms year-round in warm weather, and does great in a container. Just give it bright light, and if the air is humid, you'll get that dreamy fragrance in full force.

⭐️ A perfect plant for anyone who wants their space to smell amazing - naturally.

🛒 Grow your own Chanel No. 5

📚Learn more:
Flowering season of Dwarf Chanel No 5
How to grow your own Chanel #5
What is the best perfume tree for container culture
Ylang Ylang Tree

#Perfume_Plants #Container_Garden #Trees

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Date: 2 Jan 2020

The most fragrant flowers

Q: Hope you can help me with the following question with an upcoming newsletter. Would you please let us know of the strongest (pleasant) fragrant plants you currently have in stock? Fragrance that fills the space.

A: The most fragrant flower that "fills the air around" in definitely Chanel #5 - Cananga odorata a.k.a. Ylang Ylang. Just one tree when in bloom can fill the air with fine perfume for yards away.
Another strongly scented perfume tree is Joy Perfume - Magnolia champaca (both orange and white flowers are sweetly fragrant).
If you are looking for a smaller size plant, then the most fragrant are -
- Jasmine sambac
- Night-fragrant white-flowered Brunfelsias - B. americana, B. nitida, B. Gigantea, B. lactea and others.
- Night blooming Jasmine - Cestrum nocturnum is another favorite shrub with night-fragrant flowers, the scent is super strong and super sweet.
- Artabotrys hexapetalus - Ylang Ylang vine with wonderful lemony fragrance that fills the air.

See Full list of fragrant plants.