Native Frangipani

For a couple of weeks recently I enjoyed the fragrance of the native frangipani tree at the farm. It's on the bank of the old dam right near the shop and where every day I unload and often spend time bunching. A wonderful tree for its scent alone, it's a rainforest tree of NSW and Queensland which does well in the Dandenongs. It's botanic name is Hymenosporum flavum.

It's a slender inconspicuous tree that you don't even notice most of the time. It's the scent that strikes, making you look around for the source, then, every year as if a new surprise, there it is in full flower. Magnifiscent!

I asked Elvie did she plant it there on purpose. She said she got it in for a lady who asked for one, back when we had a thriving nursery business. The lady never came back, so rather than repot it, one evening she planted it in the nearest space she could find.

Sometimes good things happen by accident, or luck. My tree of the week. If you like a scented garden, it's a must.