Magnolia

Another thing that I 'harvest' from the garden is scent.

One of the most prolific bloomers in our garden, is the White Champaca (Magnolia x alba), a hybrid between the Magnolia Champaca and Magnolia Montana.

Like the Jasmine flower, the Magnolia flower is used to scent Chinese tea - Yulan Tea - via infusion.

The plant was almost 2m and not flowering when I first got it. Placed in the balcony with full day of sun, the flowers start to bloom at night and shed throughout the day. However, the leaves started to turn brown and drop off rapidly too. 

Eventually, I found a better spot in the backyard. With 3-4 hours of direct sun and watering twice a day, the tree started to flower more and shed less leaves.

On the average, this little 'tree' is now producing about 3-5 fragrant blooms per night. Enough to scent the entire backyard. Sometimes, I catch a whiff of them from the adjacent kitchen.

Hopefully, I can nurse it back to bloom even more!