Osmanthus x burkwoodii
Common name: Burkwood osmanthus
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 7
Mature height and spread: 5 ft tall by 10 ft wide
Form: bushy habit
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well-drained, acidic
Leaf arrangement: opposite
Fall colour: evergreen
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: flowers in spring, small tubular flowers, flared limbs, very fragrant (pleasant)
Limitations: dull when not flowering
Suitable uses: hedge or screen
ID description: branches flattened at nodes, small dark green leaves, serrated margins, little round buds in leaf axil
Syringa vulgaris
Common name: common lilac
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 4
Mature height and spread: 5-6 m tall
Form: irregular, shrub, suckering
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: deep soil
Leaf arrangement: opposite
Fall colour: none really
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: flowers produced at tips of branches, very fragrant, tubular with flared limbs, flower clusters in panicle, in purple, pink, white, sometimes rosy red
Limitations: does poorly in Vancouver- gets leaf diseases, stem dieback, bacterial blight
Suitable uses: grown for fragrant flowers
ID description: flattened nodes, big axillary buds, cordate, entire leaf
Forsythia x intermedia ‘Lynnwood’
Common name: border forsythia
Useful cultivars and selections: ‘Lynnwood’
USDA hardiness zone: 5
Mature height and spread: 6-9 ft tall and wide
Form: suckering shrub, strongly upright in first year, branches in second
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well-drained
Leaf arrangement: decussate
Fall colour:
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: bright yellow flowers cover bare branches, 4 strap shaped petals, short tube, borne in profusion along branches
Limitations: susceptable to leaf spot and crown gall
Suitable uses: grown for bright yellow colour
ID description: warty stems- white lenticels, flattened nodes, narrowly elliptic leaves
Osmanthus delavayi
Common name: sweet olive
Useful cultivars and selections: –
USDA hardiness zone: 7
Mature height and spread: 5 ft tall by 7 ft wide
Form: tall hedge
Water use: medium
Soil requirements: well-drained
Leaf arrangement: opposite
Fall colour: evergreen
Flower/cone/fruit descriptions: white flowers on last years wood
Limitations: dull when not flowering
Suitable uses: classic hedge or screen
ID description: toothed leaves
