WAG.. sure looks like my mock orange.. when it blooms in a few months..

and hint of an orange scent???

ken

ps: that shrub can be renovated.. should you wish a better form

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Definitely a Philadelphus. There are many kinds.

No noticable scent from it the past two years Ken, in a week or so it will be so covered with blooms you'll hardly be able to see the leaves (that lasts about two weeks, then they come off and it's just a tall, reedly looking leaved thing until the light Fall blush). I like that the two of them are very tall, I would like to encourage width though. Suggestions?

Thanks bboy, after Ken's post I googled and you're both surely right, would love to have it green all the way up instead of just the top portion but don't want to cut it back severely to try, hub would kill me if I killed them. lol

I kinda like it just the way it is.

would love to have it green all the way up instead of just the top portion

===>> google REJUVENATION PRUNING OF FLOWERING SHRUBS.. and rejuvenate it ...

i bought two in a plastic bag .. at 16 foot ball.. there is a slight fragrance .. that is a lot of plant for little smell ...

i have bought some named varieties.. and from 20 feet.. you can smell one flower .. and get this.. they smell like orange blossoms.. or so i am told.. being a MI boy ...

if you like the plant in general ... get rid of those.. and buy a named variety.. and stink up your yard ...

i have one.. that the flowers are almost as big as a lighter ....

ken

check out the link for Snow Velvet ...

now that a mock orange ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

That Snow Velvet is awesome Ken, thanks. :)

I can't get rid of the ones we have, hub just loves them (and they are stunning when in bloom), but I'm sure he'd love it if I got a few of a named variety so they'd have some scent. We have a lemon tree and its blossoms have quite the scent, but it doesn't smell like lemons, closer to jasmine in my opinion, do orange blossoms (and mock oranges) smell like oranges?

if he walked across my hundred foot wide yard ... at 75 feet away ... he would say what is that fragrance ... and as we got closer and closer to SV..

and when he focused on it.. and realized what it is.. he would probably start smacking himself in the head.. wondering why he is irrationally attached to a basically fragrance free version ...

can your husband read.. perhaps he should be reading these posts ... lol [forgive me if he cant]

call some local gardens .. and see if any have a mock orange collections.. and take him to see the varieties available ...

there is even one with variegated leaves.. and rather fragrant flowers.. but a kinda an ugly bush...

ken

Oh, he can read all right, just sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. lol Too bad the variegated ones aren't pretty, I've been trying to work a couple into the beds for variety. He loves to go shopping for plants so I'll make sure to find named varieties for him to ponder over. He won't let loose of the Amazon women but maybe a couple fragrant ones can be added to the landscape. Thanks for all of your info Ken, it's much appreciated. :)

Philadelphus coronarius 'Variegatus' is quite nice. The ones you have already can be made to have a better furnishing by cutting a few of the oldest, least productive canes down low, leaving the rest in place. Do this right after bloom.

Oh yeah, the pic of one at DG looks lovely, I'll have to find one of those, and thanks for the info on pruning bboy, I will as soon as the flowers come off, this is her today at about full bloom:

{{gwi:244188}}

Wonderful shrub! That Snow Velvet is just beautiful. Hard to fight the urge to buy one with these pics... If I see one this spring I will snag it up! If not, I will have to order one of these this fall.

John

Of course after a quick search, every online retailer I visited is out of stock concerning Snow Velvet =(

There are several variegated selections for sale, though. Bboy, is your 'Variegatus' that same as 'Innocence"?

Figures, doesn't it John? The good things always go fast. I'll be keeping my eyeballs peeled for either Snow Velvet or the Variegatus.

I looked up Philadelphus in my Dirr manual last night after I got home from work and he certainly does not think too highly of these shrubs/trees... Snow Velvet was also not in any of the mock orange cultivars he described :(

John

'Snow Velvet' is said to be a cultivar of P. lewisii, in which case it is perhaps not suited to all parts of the country.