inspired by a flowering shrub

I can see this shrub from my kitchen window. I have been waiting for it to flower since we arrived here in September. It looked very dead all through the winter, produced tiny, shiny leaves in the spring and now, at last it is in flower, so I can identify it as Escalonia. I understand it has a lovely honey perfume, which my selective nose cannot smell. I can enjoy the flowers, however, and, so my book says, can go on enjoying them until October.

So, how come it wasn't in flower last September? Perhaps it was sulking after two severe winters.