Named for Père Jean Marie Delavay, a French missionary and prolific botanical collector who worked in southwestern China in the late nineteenth century, Osmanthus delavayi is among the most graceful of the tea olives. It is evergreen, with dark, toothed ovate leaves that remain handsome year-round, and in early spring it becomes briefly spectacular — the stems covered in clusters of small white tubular flowers whose fragrance carries well beyond the plant itself. It grows to twelve feet in height and width over many years, its slow pace making it a reliable shrub for confined spaces where a more vigorous plant would become a problem.

Adaptable to a range of soils and reasonably drought-tolerant once settled, it flowers best in sun to partial sun. The important pruning consideration is that next season's flowers form on this year's wood — so heavy pruning after flowering will reduce next spring's display. In zones 7 through 9 it is reliably hardy and suits border backgrounds, cottage gardens, sensory gardens, and Asian-inspired plantings in equal measure. For gardeners who have not grown it before, the fragrance on a still morning in March is a genuine revelation.