Apricot Echo Tea Olive

Osmanthus fragrans aurantiacus ‘Apricot Echo’ or ‘Yue Yue Hong’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 7b-9b (7a?) Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Evergreen Flowering Shrub or Small Tree

Height at Maturity: 10-15′

Width at Maturity: 6-8′

Spacing: 5-6′ for a solid hedge; 12-14′ or more for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Upright

Growth Rate: Moderate, Fast

Flower Color: Apricot, Orange to Red in full sun

Flower Size: Tiny, 1/8″ in clusters

Flowering Period: Fall, Winter, Early Spring

Flower Type: Single, in clusters

Fragrant Flowers: Yes, extremely fragrant!

Foliage Color: Dark Green, Deep Burgundy new growth

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: No

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Full to Mostly Sun, Morning Sun With Afternoon Shade, Morning Shade with Afternoon Sun

Water Needs: Average, Very Low when established

Soil Type: Clay (Amended), Loam, Sandy, Silty

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Moist to Dry when established

Soil pH: 5.5 – 7.5 (Acid to Slightly Acid)

Maintenance / Care: Average to Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Deer – more info, Disease, Drought, Dry Soil, Heat, Insect

Description

A new reblooming Osmanthus aurianticus that produces abundant clusters of wonderfully fragrant apricot color blossoms, the Apricot Echo Tea Olive begins blooming in fall continuing through winter and early spring! After flowering the color show continues in spring as the new leaves emerge a deep burgundy almost purple maturing to deep green by summer. Evergreen leaves are larger than the species. No need to plant this one near windows as one plant can fill a back or front yard with sweet aroma! That said, of course you can plant one near a window or outdoor living spaces where the fragrance and pretty flowers can be enjoyed from closer up:-)

Interesting Note: In full sun the flowers of Apricot Echo will be deeper shades of orange to orange-red. Light to moderate shade produces soft orange flowers.

Landscape & Garden Uses

With an upright rounded form 10 to 15 feet tall and 6 to 8 feet wide (depending on pruning), the Apricot Echo Tea Olive can be grown as a large shrub or small tree. As a shrub its dense foliage makes it ideal for use as an evergreen hedge or privacy screen, as a background, or to frame corners or fill voids between widely-spaced windows in home foundation plantings. As this tea olive grows taller, which it does rather quickly, lower branches can be removed to form a highly attractive small tree ideal for use as a focal point specimen in sunny to partially shaded landscape borders and home foundation plantings. A fine addition to fragrance gardens, orange theme gardens, cottage gardens, and Asian gardens.

Suggested Spacing: 5 to 6 feet apart for a solid hedge; 14 feet or more apart for space between plants

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7b, where the Apricot Echo Tea Olive is not winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

The Apricot Echo Tea Olive is very easy to grow in most any moist but well-drained soil of average fertility and full sun to part shade. We suggest at least 4-5 hours of direct sunlight per day or all-day lightly filtered sun for best flowering. As with many other plants, a constantly soggy or wet soil can be problematic. Exceptionally drought tolerant when established. Over decades, we’ve seen no insect or disease problems and deer won’t touch it.

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant and care for Tea Olive shrubs and trees.

How To Plant A Tea Olive

How To Fertilize A Tea Olive

How To Prune Prune A Tea Olive Shrub Or Tree

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