{"id":3053,"date":"2020-05-11T05:09:27","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3053"},"modified":"2020-05-11T05:09:27","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:09:27","slug":"mock-orange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/mock-orange\/","title":{"rendered":"Mock Orange"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hate to admit it, but my mock orange is sad.\u00a0 The advent of spring and the deluge of recent rain have persuaded it to leaf out and I expect that flowers will not be far behind.\u00a0 Those flowers will be fragrant and beautiful, as always.\u00a0 Still, the shrub is more than five years old and has never achieved its full potential.\u00a0 It is crying out for some TLC, most likely in the form of relocation to a better spot.\u00a0 I can hear its piteous cries whenever I go out in the garden and I know I will have to take action if I want horticultural peace.<\/p>\n

Over the centuries many people have loved mock orange or Philadelphus, a genus that includes a group of species that have long been cottage garden favorites.\u00a0 In fact, the Latin species name, \u201ccoronarius\u201d means \u201cgarland\u201d, which is probably indicative of the uses to which flowering branches were once put.<\/p>\n

For years I thought the generic name \u201cphiladelphus\u201d had something to do with Philadelphia, the \u201cCity of Brotherly Love\u201d.\u00a0 However, the truth is a little more intriguing.\u00a0 The original Greek word, \u201cphiladelphus\u201d means brotherly or sisterly love.\u00a0 The great taxonomist Linnaeus harkened back to his classical education and named the mock orange genus in honor of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh and son of one of Alexander the Great\u2019s most successful generals.\u00a0 In his time, Ptolemy Philadelphus caused quite a stir by marrying his sister, Arsinoe II, bringing new meaning to the phrase \u201cbrotherly love\u201d.\u00a0 Whatever we think of Ptolemy\u2019s marital habits, we can still love the shrubs named after him.<\/p>\n

Probably the best known and most popular mock orange is the deciduous Philadelphus coronarius, which sports characteristic, white, four-petaled flowers in mid-spring, at about the same time that lilacs commonly bloom.\u00a0 Those flowers are renowned for their sweet scent, which reminds some people of the fragrance of orange blossoms.\u00a0 Occasionally specimens lack that special scent, which is why it is a good idea to buy the plants in flower and sniff before brandishing your credit card.<\/p>\n

Mock orange is not as popular as it once was, probably because we demand so much more of our garden plants these days.\u00a0 Like its fellow spring bloomer, forsythia, common mock orange enjoys about two weeks of glory when it flowers, before subsiding into an unremarkable leafy state for the rest of the growing season.\u00a0 Some species and varieties offer more value, but they tend to be harder to find.<\/p>\n

The easiest remedy for the species\u2019 deficiencies is grooming.\u00a0 After the flowers fade, you can either cut back about one third of the oldest stems and trim the plant to shape, or cut all the stems back almost to ground level.\u00a0 The latter is also a good way to control the size of larger varieties and species like western mock orange.\u00a0 Either way, annual pruning ensures that the shrub will develop a well-branched form that will not succumb to the unattractive legginess common in untended mock oranges.<\/p>\n

Another remedy for the \u201ctwo weeks of interest\u201d issue is to choose species and varieties that work harder in the garden.\u00a0 Philadelphus coronarius \u2018Aurea\u201d features \u00a0foliage that emerges gold in spring and turns a cooling shade of lime green in summer.\u00a0 The white single flowers exude the characteristic citrusy scent on shrubs that reach five to six feet tall and four feet wide.\u00a0 \u2018Aurea\u2019 has won the Royal Horticultural Society\u2019s Award of Garden Merit or AGM.<\/p>\n

\u2018Belle Etoile\u2019\u2014Philadelphus x lemoinii \u2018Belle Etoile\u2019–bred by the great nineteenth century French plantsman, Victor LeMoine, sprouts smaller, more refined leaves than the coronarius varieties, and larger white flowers with distinctive maroon blotches at the base of each petal.\u00a0 A happy \u2018Belle Etoile\u2019 covers itself with blooms.<\/p>\n

Canadian-bred \u2018Snow Dwarf\u2019 is perfect for small-space gardening, and, at two to three feet tall and wide, can also be grown successfully in large containers.\u00a0 The blooms are double and fragrant.<\/p>\n

Philadelphus lewisii or western mock orange is a North American native first collected by Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark Expedition.\u00a0 Though it is large at six to ten feet tall, it also offers more than one season of interest.\u00a0 The fragrant flowers appear in summer, along with green, ovate leaves.\u00a0 Those leaves turn yellow in fall, before dropping and revealing the attractive exfoliating bark on the stems.<\/p>\n

Mock orange likes full sun–especially in the north–filtered sunlight or very light shade and consistently moist soil.\u00a0 A two-inch layer of mulch spread around, but not touching the plant\u2019s base, helps to conserve that moisture.<\/p>\n

Digging Dog Nursery stocks a good selection of mock orange species and varieties.\u00a0 Find them at 31101 Middle Ridge Road,\u00a0 Albion, CA 95410<\/a>, (707) 937-1130<\/a>; www.diggingdog.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free print catalog.\u00a0 ForestFarm carries Philadelphus lewisii, and can be reached at 14643 Watergap Rd, Williams, OR \u00a097544, (541) 846-7269; www.forestfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free print catalog.<\/p>\n

\"mock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate to admit it, but my mock orange is sad.\u00a0 The advent of spring and the deluge of recent rain have persuaded it to leaf out and I expect that flowers will not be far behind.\u00a0 Those flowers will be fragrant and beautiful, as always.\u00a0 Still, the shrub is more than five years old … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[2298,209,1136,2295,1137,2296,2297],"class_list":["post-3053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-compact-flowering-shrubs","tag-fragrant-flowers","tag-mock-orange","tag-native-shrubs","tag-philadelphus","tag-spring-flowering-shrubs","tag-western-mock-orange"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3055,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3053\/revisions\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}