Mock orange

Mock orange: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Upright shrub of 2–3 m with many stems from the base, which arch slightly with age.

Leaf

Opposite, 4–8 cm, oval with a pointed tip, finely toothed, with 3–5 veins running from the base to the tip.

Bark

Brown twigs; older stems with peeling bark.

Flower

Creamy white flowers (3 cm) with four petals and yellow stamens, in June; double forms too.

Fruit

Small brown capsules.

Difference from weigela

Weigela has bell-shaped pink or red flowers without a strong scent.

Difference from common jasmine

That is a climber with compound leaves and tubular flowers; not related.

Flowering: June · Pruning: July

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Weigela Weigela: bell-shaped pink or red flowers without a strong scent. Difference from weigela
• True jasmine (Jasminum): a climber with compound leaves and tubular flowers; not related.

Why grow it?

• One of the loveliest flower scents of June, especially in the evening.
• Tough and easy: grows on almost any soil, in sun or partial shade.
• Bees and hoverflies visit the flowers.
• Lovely as a specimen shrub, in an informal hedge or at the back of a border.

Mock orange: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; in sun it flowers and smells the most.
• Almost any soil, chalky ones too, as long as it is not too wet or too dry.
• Allow 2–3 m width.
• Put it near a patio, a seat or an open window: that is where you will smell it best in the evening.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

3 m tall, 2.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Common lilac: Another old-fashioned scented shrub: together they perfume the garden from May into June.
• Dog rose: Flowers at about the same time and gives hips in autumn.
• English lavender: Takes over the scent in July, at the front in the sun.
• Weigela: Pink flowers beside the white of the mock orange.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Suits the woodland edge or the light shade of: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Mock orange: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from October to March; a pot-grown shrub can go in all year round, except in frost or drought.
2. Dig a generous planting hole and mix in some compost.
3. Plant at the same depth as before and firm the soil.
4. Water well after planting and in dry spells during the first year.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; after that only in long dry periods.

Feeding

A little compost in spring is enough.

Soil

A layer of leaf mould or wood chips keeps the soil cool and moist.

Flowering

It flowers on last year’s shoots: that is why you prune straight after flowering.

Tip: Choose a single-flowered form if you also want to help insects: bees struggle to reach the pollen in double flowers.

Mock orange: when to prune it?

Pruning months: July.

When: Straight after flowering, in July.

How:

• Every year, cut a quarter of the oldest stems off at ground level; this keeps it young and free-flowering.
• Cut faded shoots back to a strong, young side shoot.
• Rejuvenate an old, bare shrub over two or three years by removing a third of the oldest stems each time.

Caution: Don’t prune in winter: you’d cut off next year’s flowers.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Summer cuttings

In July, take 10–15 cm cuttings from young shoots and root them in a pot of sandy compost under plastic.

Hardwood cuttings

In winter, push 20 cm lengths of one-year-old shoots two thirds of the way into the ground; they root easily.

Mock orange: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• Leave the shrub alone in winter: last year’s shoots carry the June flowers.

Diseases and pests

• Blackfly: Colonies of black aphids on the young shoot tips in spring. Ladybirds and tits usually clear them up; if needed, spray with water.
• Few or no flowers: Usually pruned in winter, or too much shade. From now on, prune straight after flowering and give it more light.
• Bare at the base: After years without pruning it only flowers at the top. Rejuvenate it by removing some of the oldest stems every year.

Through the year

• February: Don’t prune: the shoots carry the June flowers.
• March: A little compost around the base.
• April: Watch out for blackfly on the young shoots.
• June: Flowering: heady orange-blossom scent.
• July: Prune straight after flowering; take summer cuttings.
• November: Planting and hardwood cuttings.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Old-fashioned garden shrub with one of the loveliest flower scents of June.

For wildlife

Bees and hoverflies visit the flowers.

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Hoverflies

Open flowers for hoverflies; many of their larvae eat aphids.

Did you know?

• It is not a true jasmine: its Dutch name, boerenjasmijn (‘farmer’s jasmine’), comes from the scent, just as the English name ‘mock orange’ refers to orange blossom.
• Early botanists called it Syringa, like lilac; in England it is still often called ‘syringa’.
• The name Philadelphus means ‘brotherly love’ and honours the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
• The species name coronarius means ‘for garlands’: the fragrant flowering shoots were once woven into wreaths and garlands.
• In English it is often still called ‘syringa’, the scientific name of lilac. Both shrubs once went by that name, which still causes confusion.