God's perfume

Bob was helping me with some pruning in our backyard the other day and as we were hauling the pruned limbs to the street, I noticed a sweet perfume wafting across the entire yard.  As I glanced around, I couldn't identify where the fragrance was originating or what could be producing it.  Then I realized that the tea olive is in full bloom.

I purchased my tea olive (Osmanthus fragrans) shrub several years ago because it is evergreen from the ground up and matures at about 20 feet.  This is perfect to provide some privacy for my back deck and hide the less than attractive area under the deck.  I was told it was fragrant but fragrance was incidental to the shrub's purpose for me.

However, I am reversing myself--the fragrance is THE reason to grow this amazing shrub.  The flowers are tiny, white, and barely noticeable but one shrub fills half the yard with a sweet, delicate perfume that is like nothing I have ever smelled before.  I would wear this perfume if it were bottled. 

I have a second tea olive in another corner of the back yard that is still not mature enough to produce much fragrance yet.  My new project is going to be planting a tea olive in the two other corners of my backyard so that I can smell God's perfume everywhere I go.