Mock Orange

Philadelphus coronarius

L. Species

Philadelphus coronarius
toad-wife via iNaturalist — CC BY 4.0
Philadelphus coronarius photograph 1 Philadelphus coronarius photograph 2 Philadelphus coronarius photograph 3 Philadelphus coronarius photograph 4 Philadelphus coronarius photograph 5 Philadelphus coronarius photograph 6
Botanical name
Philadelphus coronarius
Also known as
European Mock-Orange, Mock Orange, Mock-Orange, Philadelphia Mock-Orange, Sweet Mock Orange, Sweet Mock-Orange
Family
Hydrangeaceae
Genus
Philadelphus
Flowering period
June
Height
2.5–3 m
Spread
200–250 cm
Hardiness
Fully hardy (RHS H6)
Reference
World Flora Online

How to grow Mock Orange

Written by the GardenDecoded editorial team Last reviewed 21 July 2026 Written for UK gardens How we research our guidance

Sunlight
Full sun to partial shade
Watering
Low once established
Soil
Most soils including chalk and poor dry ground
Soil pH
Acid to alkaline

Planting

Tough and unfussy, and one of the better shrubs for poor chalky soil. The scent is the point, so plant it within reach of a path or window rather than at the back of a border.

Pruning

Prune immediately after flowering: cut the flowered shoots back to strong new growth lower down, and remove a quarter to a third of the oldest stems at the base. Pruning in spring removes the flower buds — this is the commonest reason a mock orange does not flower.

Propagation

Softwood cuttings in early summer or hardwood cuttings in autumn; both take readily.

Pests and diseases

Blackfly can colonise the shoot tips heavily in early summer. Otherwise little trouble.

Value to wildlife

Open, scented flowers are visited by bees and hoverflies.

Notes

It has about three weeks of interest and eleven months of plain green. Site it accordingly — as a backdrop or in a mixed planting, not as a specimen where it will be looked at all year.

Some structured details on this page (such as tolerances, pH and hardiness) come from USDA PLANTS Database (public domain). The written guidance is GardenDecoded's own, researched as described in our editorial policy.

Other names for this plant

These names have all been used for Philadelphus coronarius but are no longer the accepted name. You may still meet them on old labels, in books, or in nursery catalogues.

Philadelphus aromaticus Philadelphus caucasicus Philadelphus caucasicus var. glabratus Philadelphus coronarius f. aureus Philadelphus coronarius f. deutziiflorus Philadelphus coronarius f. duplex Philadelphus coronarius f. primuliflorus Philadelphus coronarius f. pumilus Philadelphus coronarius f. salicifolius Philadelphus coronarius f. variegatus Philadelphus coronarius var. aureus Philadelphus coronarius var. deutziiflorus-plenus Philadelphus coronarius var. duplex Philadelphus coronarius var. glabratus Philadelphus coronarius var. grandiflorus Philadelphus coronarius var. primuliflorus-plenus Philadelphus coronarius var. pumilus Philadelphus coronarius var. rosiflorus-plenus Philadelphus coronarius var. variegatus Philadelphus deyrolleanus Philadelphus grandiflorus Philadelphus keteleeri Philadelphus kochianus Philadelphus nanus Philadelphus pallidus Philadelphus primuliflorus Philadelphus salicifolius Philadelphus salzmannii Philadelphus speciosus Philadelphus umbellatus Philadelphus uniflorus Philadelphus zeyheri Philadelphus zeyheri var. kochianus Philadelphus zeyheri var. umbellatus Syringa alba Syringa suaveolens

Others in Philadelphus

Philadelphus affinis
Philadelphus brachybotrys
Philadelphus calcicola
Philadelphus calvescens
Philadelphus coulteri
Philadelphus dasycalyx
Philadelphus delavayi
Philadelphus delavayi var. delavayi

GardenDecoded is an educational gardening reference. Botanical data comes from World Flora Online and GBIF; growing guidance is our own. Always check a plant's toxicity and local invasiveness status before planting, and never eat or apply a plant based on this site alone.