Growth, Cold-hardiness, and Flowering of Sweet Olive, Fortune’s Osmanthus, Fragrant Tea Olive, and Holly Tea Olive in Tennessee

Production and use of sweet olive (Osmanthus armatus), fragrant tea olive (O. fragrans), holly tea olive (O. heterophyllus), and fortune’s osmanthus (O. xfortunei) as a landscape plant is currently limited to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Hardiness Zones 7 to 10, and nursery growers wish to extend the range of these species into colder climates. To provide recommendations to growers and landscapers and inform breeding efforts for cold-hardiness improvement, a replicated trial was conducted in a USDA Hardiness Zone 6b/7a transition zone. Fifteen cultivars and two unnamed accessions representing four species were evaluated for growth, stem necrosis, and flowering in a pot-in-pot production system from 2015 to 2017. One-half of the plants in each cultivar were moved to winter protection each November and returned to the field each May. There were significant differences in growth and cold-hardiness among cultivars. Percent increase in the growth index after three growing seasons for winter-exposed accessions of sweet olive, fortune’s osmanthus, fragrant tea olive, and holly tea olive averaged 867%, 1175%, 155%, and 6361%, respectively. Percent stem necrosis in May 2017 for sweet olive, fortune’s osmanthus, fragrant tea olive, and holly tea olive averaged 1.1%, 2.7%, 44.8%, and 20.2%, respectively. The most cold-tolerant accessions based on stem necrosis and growth index of winter-exposed plants were ‘Kaori Hime’, ‘Hariyama’, ‘Shien’, ‘Head-Lee Fastigate’, and ‘Rotundifulius’ holly tea olive, ‘San Jose’ fortune’s osmanthus, and ‘Longwood’ sweet olive. Of these cultivars, Kaori Hime, San Jose, and Longwood flowered under winter-exposed conditions. All fragrant tea olive cultivars were damaged by winter exposure. ‘Fodingzhu’ was the only fragrant tea olive cultivar that flowered each year under winter-exposed conditions. Evaluation and breeding efforts are continuing to extend the range for production and growth of this genus.