Remarks

Mock orange is one of those versatile old garden shrubs you can place almost anywhere; it will even flower in deep shade. Fragrant single pure white flowers in spring that may reoccur in the fall with a much lesser show. Drought tolerant once established. The versatility and fragrance must certainly be the reasons gardeners choose mock orange, it certainly isn’t for its irregular shape. I’m afraid I haven’t shown it much respect, allowing its mostly shady corner to be littered with gardener’s menagerie of plastic pots and unused brick-o-brack.

Two other mock oranges we should be using drought tolerant southwest native species are P. lewisii ‘Cheyenne’ and P. microphyllus, little leaf mock orange. P. lewisii is the state flower of Idaho. 'Cheyenne' is a cold hardy, drought tolerant variety. These both pair well with any of our native shrubs, or even old garden favorites like lilac.

Use in Garden

Shrub border, sun or shade. Fragrant garden.

Maintenance

If pruning, do so after spring flowering. Always remember to prune shrubs stems down to the base.

Mock orange is not fussy about soil or amendments.