Philadelphus "starbright"

Just came back from a snout around several nurseries. Popped into Tring Wyvale on the way home and ended up buying a few bargains. Amongst the bargains I got a £32 philadelphus starbright reduced to £9.60.

Now, it does look a bit sorry for itself but I thought I could give it a good watering and feed with liquid seaweed and prune back the few really long stems then plant it out in the border. Hopefully next year it'll grow back a bit bushier.

OR? Water and feed and not bother pruning now as it's late in the season.

OR....as I am moving eventually (hopefully), just pot it up into a bigger pot with some decent compost and leave it over winter (after giving it a feed).

Any advice?

Also - has it got some sort of disease on the leaves or will that just go when the leaves drop for winter?

Thank you!

 

Oh' Snorky. You tease. Seriously you have bought this plant.. Please endulge with me. Ex. Cop. Detection and now. Plant pathologist. That's strange as both paths equal investigative.

What enduced you to buy? Orignal price. Too much. Now to your plant. It looks sorry for itself. The plant exhibits many disorders. Most of which will pass during dormancy.

When on a cheapy shoppy. Hold the plant upside down and tap it out. Here lies the problem. The plant is pot bound. Friends I am sorry but my eyesight is failing. Sorry.

 

I’m sure it’ll recover Mike. I like the challenge of restoring it. Its been planted up-old old stalks removed and the newer shoots remain. Fresh compost and super duper seaweed feed will sort it. I’ll make sure i clear those leaves away when they drop soon.

Let’s see what happens....

 

Just an update on the reduced mock orange ....



Was worth the £9.60!

 

It certainly was worth it. Well done on reviving it. I must say it didn’t look very promising in your ‘before’ photo. Beware they get very big! I have one and I lopped it back last year as it was about 12ft tall!

 

ooh that's good to know Suze, as I want it to grow really big there! How long did it take for yours to reach that height?

 

I planted in about 10 years ago, so if must have grown over a foot a year as I’ve cut it back a few times. I’ve attached a photo to show size (it’s against a six foot fence). It doesn’t look like much as it’s not in flower yet up here, little is.

 

Wow! I like that! That's the height I hope mine gets to. I bet it smells fantastic when the flowers are out!

 

Yes @Snorky85 , it smells nice in flower close up, but isn’t particularly fragrant (I think it was an Aldi cheapy, there is always a catch!). I get far better scent from my Mexican orange blossom choisya ternata.