A Fragrant and Hardy Hedge

If you were to walk through our little front gate, early in the morning or later in the afternoon, you would be greeted at the moment by the fragrant flowers in our hedge of Michelia Coco. 

 The fragrant, creamy bloom of  Michelia Coco.

These beautiful, evergreen shrubs belong to the same family of plants as Magnolias. While their creamy blooms are much smaller than the often impressive blooms of their cousins, their heady fragrance leaves one snatching at memories when trying to describe their distinctive, fruity scent. To me, it is sweetly reminiscent of Juicy Fruit chewing gum! Others have said it smells like ripe bananas!

Michelia Coco frame our little front gate.

I've found these shrubs to be particularly hardy in our garden. They are planted, two either side, of our front gate in a full sun position that faces South West. It gets very hot there in the Summer but I rarely water them. They remain covered in leafy, emerald-green foliage that looks wonderful in the bunches of flowers I pick to bring inside. The blooms, which emerge from buds covered in a lightly-browned, soft fuzz, are creamy with little blushes of purple in their centres. Small, but very beautiful!

Native bees on a beautiful blossom.

Our resident native bees love these blooms too. In the morning, when that heady fragrance is released into the air, dozens and dozens of little native bees gather in the blossoms. There they work happily among the flowers that these shrubs are covered in right now. 

I am happily working out in the garden now the heat of the Summer has faded. I make sure too that I pause, and breathe in deeply, whenever I am near our blooming hedge of Michelia Coco. 

Meg