osmanthus

Hyphen applied!

Well you can always get tricky and spray the buds with chili water. Doesn't affect the scent or look, but possums aren't into spicy food.

I like the look of gardenias, but find the scent a bit sickly. Same with most jasmines. OTOH, the scent of Osmanthus fragrans is simply superb. It's like the best bits of gardenia or jasmine, but without the heavier sickly notes, and with the scent of ripe apricots added to the mix.

And yes, that's where my username comes from. It's one of my all time favourite plants. Doesn't look like much, but worth growing just for the scent when it's in flower.

Worth the flower losses for the possum experience.

Though I love gardenias, which will not grow here at all.

Sounds friggin' adorable. If they have soft paw pad skin it's likely easy for them to get up.

It's interesting how many animals slide for fun. Otters do, beavers have been known to, ravens and crows will roll and slide, for no other purpose than the fun of it.

Yeah but I was thinking of bending loads on the rafters. If the thing was fully triangulated, those would disappear. As it is, the rafters are point loaded halfway along.

Well, it IS a triangle. So it's stable. The other members essentially break the spans. The central "square" can't shear because the triangle containing it is, um, a triangle.

I have a learning disability.

What a perfect analogy!

He may be panicking.

Nah. Badger time.