I got a mock orange recently - Philadelphus x virginalis 'Minnesota Snowflake.' The people at the nursery said it would "get big." A Google search yields results that say it will get from 8 feet tall and as wide to only 3 feet tall. The plant is already about 3 feet tall in the container. Some sites say that it is fast growing, some say it is a slow grower. I want to select a good site for this plant. Anyone know about or have this plant? I'm in zone 6.
I had 3 of these along my property line when I bought my house. They were my neighbor's. The moron cut them down. I can't tell you much about growing them, but you'd better get yourself a hat with mosquito net like fishermen wear because when those plants start making flowers and you smell them, you're gonna be sleeping out there in a lawn chair. :-)
Do you recall how tall they got? how wide? I appreciate your comment on the fragrance. In my Google search, I found a couple of sites that said they were only mildly fragrant and you had to put you nose in the flower to smell it. I have a love-hate relationship with Google. Sometimes you find great information and sometimes you get widely divergent information about the same plant.
I have one in the corner of my yard and it does get big! I would say that 8' x 8' is a good estimate. The size sort of creeps up on you; all of a sudden you realize it's huge. I didn't notice how much it has grown until I looked at photos of when I moved in four years ago when it was fairly small. It tends to have a messy growth habit with sticks going every which way making pruning a guess. This becomes more apparent when the leaves drop.
Anyway, this spring when I realized it was making inroads into the backyard, I trimmed it back, keeping some of the height and width to maintain it as a privacy screen.
One fall I cut it back quite a bit after the leaves had dropped. The next spring it bloomed like crazy for the first time since I had it. So I assume it blooms on new wood? The fragrance was overpowering.
I really like it.
Sue(tm) Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
Mine is huge, it's about 12 foot tall but hasn't flopped over like I read it was supposed to do. I actually have 3, the other two are around 6 foot as we speak. Colleen Zone 5 CT.
Well I have mock orage on my property, probably been here for years or at least early 1900's, and two in particular are about 20 to 25 feet apart at the trunks, but their canopies meet, and the entire underside is just like one big airy green leaf umbrella........We have the sides trimmed up for light etc, and maintain those two trees, and often eat under them , as we have a gas grill and picnic table set there. I can't say what species of mock orange they are, but they were commonly used for hedgerows and property lines years ago. I have quite a few others growing here and there but they are not a pretty tree by any means as they are all gnarly and twisted, and full of thorns, which these other two do ot have, which leads me to belive they may be a different species of mock orange that the others I have. Neitherof mine drop or grow any oranges but my others that are all gnarly do grow fruits (ineditable unless our a fox squirrel and fox squirrels love a mock orange fruit.) Visit my website:
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I'm glad to hear that it gets that big. I have a spot in a peninsula bed that separates us from the neighbor. I want to screen off an unsightly part of their back yard (actually, the underside of their two-story deck as their entire back yard is unsightly and I only have so much time and money!). As far as blooming, everything I have read says to prune immediately after blooming. They apparently bloom on the previous year's growth. I don't know if they actually set flower buds the previous year like azaleas. The recommendations for rejuvenating the shrub is to removed 1/3 of the old canes each year for three years.
I guess I have to do some more reading. I haven't seen a single mention of fruit. We have some Osage orange trees in our woods, but that is another plant entirely and one that I associate with fencerows in rural areas.
Mine were about 6' high, but mostly suckers. They'd been badly abused by the knucklehead neighbor. But, here's a hint from Wayside Gardens:
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Most Fragrant Philadelphus. The orange-brown bark peels attractively in winter providing another season of interest.
Philadelphus Virginal - Mockorange. The hard-to-find true Mockorange strain that blooms all summer. The most fragrant Philadelphus, this drought tolerant, 8-foot by 6-foot shrub produces masses of 2-inch flowers. Orange-brown bark peels attractively in winter. Prefers humus-rich, loamy soil. Zones 5-8. One-gallon container. For Fall Shipping
I planted one about a foot long with couple of shoots 3 years ago. Last year were couple of flowers that is about it. This year it has grown wild and no flowers. May be this fall I should prune this so I can get some flowere next year! I have fertilized, watered nothing has made it flower so far and I am rally getting tired of looking that the shoots shooting up everyday!
Apparently, too much fertilizer will cause lots of growth and few flowers. Also, it may not be getting enough sun. I would refrain from using any fertilizer and if you are going to prune, I would do it sooner than later. Every site I looked at recommended pruning immediately after it flowered.
On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 01:21:37 GMT, "Vox Humana" I agree its probably a different tree altogether, but in this region its commonly referred to by folks as a mock orange tree...............the older folks call it a osage and the still older ones call em a bo dot (sp?)
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I think this is a regional thing. Here in the south we often refer to Osage Orange as Mock Orange because the fruit vaguely resembles a large gnarly orange. Osage is a slow growing and very unique tree with extremely dense wood. It's the only green wood I've seen that will make sparks fly from a chain saw.
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