Burkwood Osmanthus (Osmanthus × burkwoodii)

Osmanthus burkwoodii is grown for one thing above all: scent. The white spring flowers are small, but the sweet fragrance they throw is not. You catch it from several feet off before you find the blooms. The rest of the year it works as dense, dark evergreen structure.

Plant in full sun to part shade with steady, moderate water. Give it time. It is slow to settle, then holds for decades. It shears cleanly into a formal hedge if you want one.

Evergreen. Full sun to part shade. Moderate water. Slow to establish, long-lived. Matures 6 to 10 feet. In a 5-gallon pot, ready to go in the ground.