Pakistan Gardening Forum

AOA,

Has anybody grown it in KArachi?

Yes, Michelia alba grows without any problem in Karachi. Just protect it from windy location. BTW, alba may disappoint you, it is not as fragrant as advertised. Can you find champaca in Karachi?

M Farooq wrote: Can you find champaca in Karachi?

That would be my next question .Can you describe michelia's fragrance. I smelled it long long ago. Just remember something heavenly.

And yes, where can I find it? I always ask the Shalimar Nursery guy, and he always says next season. This hasbeen going on for the last 3 seasons.

I am not in Karachi but whenever I visit I get the same reply from Shalimar, we will get it or something like that! They have lost interest in plants.
I have not been that lucky to buy champaca but I did have alba (from Shalimar) but it was disappointing. Very very mild fragrance. If you find a place, let me know as well.

Some of our Lahore members have it...

Izhar wrote:Some of our Lahore members have it...

I regret why some trees never make their way to Karachi. I think someone mentioned Patoki.

Farooq, in Karachi the love of plants and having a good garden is now history for majority... I had a long discussion with owner of Shalimar and he was of same opinion..

I share the same opinion of Dr. Farooq that Michelia Champaca is a very over-rated plants for its fragrance. I have grown the grafted white variety on two occasions and the fragrance was mild and was only discernible from close quarters (one literally had to sniff the flower). It was akin to reading a review of 9.5 rating of a movie on IMDB and after viewing it having the feel that it should not have been awarded even a 3.0 rating. Opinion of a seller doesn't matter as his job is to sell a plant irrespective of its traits.

This year i bough another grafted orange colour in Michelia Champaca which hopefully ought to flower in September. The white variety should be avoided at all costs.

Nothing beats a tuberose, motia, Raat Ki Raani and Jasmine Polyanthus in terms of fragrance.

@Khurram sb: I am glad that you agree that Michelia alba is mildly fragrant! If you just spend 5 min on the web for Michelia, it will appear that it indeed is the most fragrant plant on Earth, truly overrated. The rating is perhaps cultural as well as since eastern people like heavy and heady perfumes and the western people wear lighter perfumes. You really have to sniff the flower to feel the mild sweet almond like fragrance. I am still waiting to see orange one. Hope to find it one day.

@Izhar, it is very sad indeed. I hope with the improvement of situation in Karachi things will slowly return to normal. When I visited Shalimar in August, I was sad the state of it being like a wild jungle.

I am afraid, i do not agree that michelia alba is not as fragrant as advertised. I have both magnolia alba and magnolia champaca both grafted on rootstock of figo. Find below the picture of alba i took from my own plant in clay pot on terrace. Its fragrance is spicy and extremely sweet and waft in the air. This plant should be still available at wahab nursery at model town lahore. Memon nursery in model town has the non-grafted version with same level of fragrance.


I do not have picture of champaca (I have the plant growing actively) but its fragrance was more strong than alba but less sweet just like soap smell. I nipped all its flowers to promote root growth in summer. Its flower is smaller than alba.