After 5.28″ of rain in the last 24 hours, we’re hoping for see clear skies today. The low pressure system that parked itself just east of the nursery didn’t seem to ever want to move out to sea, giving us ark-like rains. Despite the rain, Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’ is still looking superb in the garden. This amazing perennial/shrub (depending on your winter low temperatures) is one amazing flowering machine through the summer and early fall. I’d be hard pressed to think of many plants that produce this many flowers through the course of a year. Full to part sun is best for this little-known member of the tomato (Solanaceae) family.
It’s beautiful. Is it fragrant?
I can’t detect any fragrance.
It’s a greatly underused plant. In my Dallas garden (zone 8 a/b) it is a deciduous shrub, can be trained as a small tree. It blooms from spring until a hard freeze forces it to stop. It tries hard to be evergreen and only defoliates in the low 20s F. It is almost death proof. One drawback: hummingbirds often investigate it, but do not hang around, so must be a poor nectar producer.