PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Mock Orange (Philadelphus)
Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile'
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
White, purple-blotched flowers with an intense orange-blossom scent in June. Plant by a path or window to enjoy the perfume.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Prune
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Mock Orange (Philadelphus): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well for the first summer, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Fertile, well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 1.5 m
- Height
- 1.5–2 m
- In pots
- Only in large containers
- Feeding
- Balanced feed in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–8
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 1.5 m apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- JuneIn Flower
The garden smells of orange blossom — take a photo.
- JulyPrune
After flowering, cut flowered stems back to young shoots and remove a quarter of the oldest stems at the base.
