On 7/27/2008 5:03 AM, Pat Kiewicz wrote:
I traveled to Sacramento recently with my mother to vist my uncle
(81 this year, and still taking care of his house and garden).

I was able to figure out that the white-, pink-, and rose-flowered
shrubs growing all over town were oleanders.

What's puzzling me are the shrubs/trees growing in huge planters
in front of the Train Museum in Old Sacramento. These were
limbed up quite high (to better to show off their attractive, mottled
bark, I presume), had somewhat glossy, elliptic leaves, pink flowers
clustered at the end of the branch, and seemed to be the only
possible source of a distinct, pleasant, flowery scent (which was
something like linden flowers or Cashmere Bouquet soap).

Based on the bark, especially, I thought they might be crape
myrtles. But fter Googling around, it seems that main opinion
is that scented crape myrtles are somewhat mythological.

No picks, sorry, and no detail description of the flowers and leaf
set. (Yes, my bad, but it was very hot and sunny, and, as I said,
these were set in huge planters and limbed up, so they were way
over my head. And no pictures, as I didn't have a camera.)

I must add, I am quite sensitive to odors, so it may have been
a fairly subtle scent. (Paper-white narcissus and privet flowers
are intense and unpleasant scents to me, and Bradford pears
flowers are so intensely stinky that I can't imagine why anyone
would plant them ANYWHERE.)


The crepe myrtles just outside the Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks
have white flowers with a very subtle perfume.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/