Michelia Figo - Port Wine Magnolia

Our Michellia figo is in flower at the moment and the smell as the sun goes down is just sublime!

I wasnt getting home from work on Friday night at about 6.45 and pulled into the driveway turne off the car and opened the door. As I got my stuff together to go inside I become aware of a beautiful sweet perfume in the air. Kind of like bubble gum. But not synthetic.

It was quite lovely!

Michellia makes a great screening plant, a beautiful perfumed hedge (if not trimmed too regularly) and just a nice addition to any garden.

It ' reasonably drought tolerant once established and easy to maintain, loving full sun and well draining sandy loam with moderate amounts of organic matter. It will also do well with azaleas, and rhododendrons, camellias.



As usual please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.

Screening trees

We live on a large block and as you can see from this picture we have a pretty bad view from the back door . So in an effort to hide the view i have planted trees along the back fence. The Peppercorn has as you can see really taken off in a big way but two others we planted at the same time died. Due to a combination of the drought and a day with high winds!
Here I have planted another Feijow tree which as yet is still very much a baby, alongside a pinkish coloured Callistemon. The creeper at the back is a Bouganvillea which is a bright magenta colour.

This is another Callistemon which i believe is a burgundy colour??

Screening trees are something i think a lot about. I often think I should have just planted several peppercorns along the fence and now would be looking at them however I have planted Callistemons instead and that was only last year so it will be a while before they catch up. Although they are coming along. Our garden is as you can see a mess. So while i may write about a lot of different plants I still have a long way to go before stepping out the back door into a lush garden of Eden!


We do have, believe it or not, many trees planted up there. But they are only babies at the moment and need more time to grow.
As usual please feel free to leave comments etc. It's lovely to get feedback.