The Orange Jasmine Welcome

I don’t like photographing flowers at night; they never come out the way I want them to.   Tonight was an exception.  I got a text message from Bill while on the train coming home.  Having arrived home ahead of me, as soon as he opened the door a strong but delicate fragrance of Orange Jasmine (Murraya paniculata) welcomed him in.  The fragrance permeated the entire house, even to the bath room at the far end of the hall.  All of it from just two plants in the living room bay window, each just a foot tall!

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I got these two Orange Jasmines to surprise Bill.  He loved the scent so much when he first encountered it on one of our vacation trips to the tropics several years ago.  During winter they reside in the bay window area so they can get real sunlight.  Not much but it’s still better than the rest of the tropical gang in the basement who put up with ‘grow-lights’ all winter long.  The Orange Jasmines never stop blooming.  In earlier years, they did better on the pool deck during summer but the location doesn’t seem to matter to them now.

They are easy to grow.  Don’t need much…just light, water and food now and then.  They’re also fast growing and quick to reproduce.  Ours have five kids now.  Two of the kids bloomed in the first year when they were only 2 inches tall and they are blooming now in the basement.  I will have to re-pot them this summer to give them more leg room.  The left one in the photo produced one little seedling in the pot that needs to be given its own space.

They are great to come home to after a long day at work.  Just close your eyes and the scent transports you right back to the tropics, minus the heat and humidity.  The fragrance gently washes over one self and the dystopian odor of the big city melts away.  A soothing way to unwind with a glass of wine and legs propped up.