Might need some pruning out of old wood, if it has unproductive twiggy sections. If large can also serve as a host for clematis of suitable vigor, thereby extending interest.

Floral effect of mock orange unique among hardy shrubs.

Thanks bboy, I like the clematis idea. Hadn't thought of that, but it's the perfect spot. It also occurs to me that the mock orange is planted right next to a lorepetalum which is similar in texture, & floppy-type ranginess. They're growing into eachother. I think I'll move the lorepetalem, replace it with a blue mophead hydrangea that's been needing a home, and grow a blue & white clematis I bought this fall into the mock orange. They'll mix with the white oakleaf hydragea, Rozanne geraniums & white japanese anemones already there . Oh yeah & I have some scillas to plant too , & purple tulips! All of this grows at the front of my house out side the gate. The neighbors will thinks I actually **planned** a blue, purple & white scheme!

I don't think the Loropetalum will transplant successfully. Maybe move the Philadelphus instead.

Can I ask why bboy? It seems like the Loropetalum settled right in, while the Mock Orange took three years to bloom. They have both been in the ground about three years, from one gallon starts. I would hate to lose the Lorapetelum to transplant shock. Didn't find anything about that on my internet search.

This is the usual result of that thing people do in a brand new garden: overplanting. I knew better, but I still did it.

Oh! I mean WOW! Sullen, lanky, overgrown teenager Mock Orange turned into an incredibly beautiful movie star this year. I should have known to be patient.

Floral effect unique indeed. Plus the scent. Yum.
It's so interesting what can happen in a couple of years.
Thanks all.
Miss Lemon

Thats wonderful! Did you move the lorepetalem and did it survive? Did you also plant the Clematis and Hydrangea? That sounded like it would have been very nice along with all of the other plants you mentioned! Do you have scratch and sniff photos? :-D

I have 2 Philadelphus. The first is rather common, called a minnesota Snowflake. It is huge, but rarely flowers. The flowers are double. A few years ago i cut it way back, and the next year it flowered OK. Because I grow it primarily as a screen for a small guest cabin, I prefer the full size plus full greenery to the flowers which are meagre at best. To get it to flower at all, seems to demand to much pruning for my taste. If it was in more viewed position, i would have taken it out years ago.

The other is spectacular. I can't recall the species name offhand, ( something like Atropurpurea). I bought it from Heronswood years ago. It is covered in single, very fragrant flowers for up to two months each May and June, which means right now. Each flower has delicate white petals shading to dark red inside, and held by a striking deep purple calyx (the cup that holds the flower to the stem). I have seen it growing a few other places, so it is not altogether rare. It was 12 feet tall last fall, so I pruned it back to 6 feet. It has already grown 2 foot long shoots this spring. Oh, plus, it is growing so well in less than 2 feet of soil over bedrock.

Miss Lemon- I'm glad your Philadelphus is doing better. My 2 year old Philadelphus is still a baby, I think it may try to bloom but hasn't yet this year. The 2 Hypericums I planted at the same time have bloomed like crazy each year, and the Illicium henryi I got at the same time has some flower buds so may bloom for the first time, I'm looking forward to that, but I don't know if it makes the star anise fruits like the regular Illicium.

My Loropetalum bit the dust after many years in the ground last winter.

Mine's a Lewesii. That's all I know. Never did any of that stuff bamboomary. There was a major illness in our family, & I have to say it's interesting what happens when you stop gardening & just let the plants do their thing. I had no choice in the matter...but... what a lesson really. Whew! It's nice to be back.

Philadephus lewisii is the native western mockorange, native as in Portland as well as much of the West. The one from Heronswood might have been P. purpurascens, don't remember if they ever had that one but the name is similar and the flowers have purple calyces.

Give it time. My old Philadelphus had been hacked down for years before I moved into my house. I let it grow all it wanted over the last three years, trimming up the understory for a nice place to sit. The result: the bush is now a small tree at 12 feet and it perfumes the garden. Last night's weeding was made bearable by the intense fragrance. My advice is let it go crazy and just trim up some lower limbs and plant around it. As for Loripetalum, mine struggled for years and then finally froze out last winter on Vashon Island.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of my Philadelphus

>As for Loripetalum, mine struggled for years and then finally froze out last winter on Vashon IslandNative below 4000' in the wild, Loropetalum chinense has been known to be tender for a long time.

In Pacific Northwest, needs protection from hard freezes

--Sunset Western Garden Book (2007, Sunset Publishing, Menlo Park)

The fact is California Specials like this continue to be trucked up from big growers like Monrovia and Hines to feature heavily in offerings at local outlets - despite not being able to persist indefinitely on most sites here. Check multiple information sources before buying suspect plants - do not rely on commercial sources only for complete and accurate profiles of plants being offered. Look at more than one reference manual, encyclopedia or web site.

Yes, well, of course you're right. It gets expensive buying plants that won't make it. The Loropetalum was an impulse buy at the Portland Nursery for me four years ago when I first moved here. I wish they had told me. I think I won't make the effort to move it after what I've heard here, & just see what happens with it living under the mock orange.It did take a huge beating with the all the snow we had this winter, but made a comeback. It IS a very attractive shrub.