Sweet shade tree

A few years go we were visiting our friend's Bob and Shela at their lovely home in Encinitas and became enchanted with a tree in their yard.

Not only did it have lovely leaves and foliage but it possessed the most beautiful, plumeria like fragrance.

We knew that we had to buy one.

We ended up finding one and planting it between our home and the towering redwood in our back yard.

I guess that it has been in the ground for about three years now.

We know that, in a brief matter of time, the lovely scent will be wafting right up into our upstairs kitchen window.

Bob mentioned that it can get rangy so we also know that we will have to trim it a bit from time to time.

But it is a welcome addition to our garden.

The sweet shade (Hymenosporum flavum) is a native of Australia, principally Queensland and New South Wales. 

But it also can be found in New Guinea, in the rainforests.

It was introduced to California in 1900 by the Italian botanist Dr. Franceschi, in Santa Barbara, where many magnificent specimens are still found. 

It can get about forty feet tall and half as wide.

Other common names include Hawaiian Wedding Tree and Queensland Frangipani.

Neat tree!

You might want to pick one up. 

One smell of its blossoms and you will be hooked.