philadelphus coronarius Mock orange help

I’ve just picked up an incredibly pot bound and scraggly mock orange in the reduced section (5l pot) It’s been potted on and watered. Anything else I should do to rejuvenate it?

 

It will depend on it's general size, but if it's not being planted out, it'll be fine until next spring in the new pot. Just keep it somewhere where it isn't exposed to a lot of sun for the foreseeable.

If there's a lot of top growth, and it's not looking great, that can also be pruned back.

 

Why would you keep it out of the sun?

 

Because it's been pot bound, you've just repotted it and hopefully opened up the old root ball a bit; all of this will have damaged the roots quite a bit. So you keeping out of the sun in a sheltered spot reduces stress on the plant as the roots will need to transport less water. The same goes for reducing the top growth, if there is a lot. This will allow the roots to recover and regrow into the new compost ready for the next growing season.

 

It will only bloom on 'last years' wood, so if you prune it now, it may disappoint you next year but it will reward you later.

 

It's always difficult to advise when we can't see it, but a struggling plant left with lots of top growth will only tend to struggle more, so pruning back is always a good idea.
Even sun lovers will benefit from a bit of shade if they're in poor condition, until they've recovered, so @NigelJ has given the exact answer I'd have given if I'd seen the post.

There's also a huge difference between the heat of any available sun in the north of the country, and sun in the south, and the amount of it a plant gets is also a big factor. An hour of sun a day in the north, isn't the same as 8 or 9 hours in the south east. Shrubs tend to take longer to revive than perennials too.
We don't know where you're located @Anguisfragilis , so it's harder to give suitable advice.

 

@Anguisfragilis any chance of a photo , if its leggy and sprawling it may benefit from some shortening

 

Okay need a bit of advice.

So during lockdown when I got into gardening, the first act was to allow garden centres to open with social distancing and all that, this is a time we were clapping on a Thursday night and watching the Prime Ministers’ nightly press conference.

So without knowing what I was really buying I bought 2 Philadelphus and duly planted them, so you can see both of them in the photos I have posted, the one on the right has grown well and dominated, you can just see the other in the bottom left hand corner, this one has done nothing.

So I am going to take this one out and cut my losses. Are philadelphus hard to dig out, do they have long roots? What can I put in its place? It is in severe shade north facing and is also under an apple tree to boot! One of the reasons of lifting the under performing philadelphus is because there is also quite a bit of bindweed root there, which I also want to get out as well.

 

1 They might be too close together
2 Have you done any pruning after flowering
3 They are not old so you should be able to dig out the stunted one with a bit of effort
4 i would underplant what is left , depends on your soil , maybe heuchera ?
5 if you intend to plant the under performing beastie elsewhere , put it in a bucket and take time to remove all the bindweed maybe by washing the soil off the roots , replant even if its just in a pot immediately until you decide where to put it.

hope that helps and good luck.

 

Definitely I planted too close together, I didn’t expect my philadelphus to get so big for one and bushey. I did make the mistake a couple of years ago giving a ‘Chelsea chop’ including new growth. I now every year take out the old stuff after blossom.

Anything else I could grow please?

 

I have a peony on one side of mine and a hibiscus the other side , they seem happy together and a euonymus emerald and gold close by . It all hinges on the space you have and what you want to achieve.

 

Thanks

I have moved the offending Philadelphus, so spent couple of hours after work grappling with bindweed (it gets everywhere) the good Philadelphus has some bindweed in the roots (any ideas how I can remove theses?)

Still open to more suggestions what I can plants? Remember it has poor light as it is north facing under a apple tree?

 

Very difficult , even a scrap of root is enough for it to persist. Short of digging up the whole patch and getting every scrap out theres no surefire way. Perhaps your best bet is to get a systemic weedkiller gel type where you can dab the weed and kill to the root without affecting good plants . You may need great patience.
Sedum autumn joy is another one to consider , nice and compact , dies back completely over winter but a nice plant and the insects love the flowers when they come late season.
Have a look in peoples gardens locally for other ideas , their soil should match yours and at least it would give you some good ideas.

 

I need something that can grow in poor light as it is north facing and is overshadowed by an apple tree and the one strong philadelphus. Along with your suggestions,I was also thinking cranebill or a hyacinth. 8 will take a better photo when I get home (although it is raining)

 

Hi @GreenFingeredPete . I haven't been on the forum for a few months, but I eventually looked again yesterday, so I thought I'd offer some insight to your problems. Feel free to ignore it though!
Due to the amount of shade, and the aspect you have, I'd be inclined to just opt for easy groundcover plants, perhaps with some early bulbs - depending on what those plants would be.
Your general conditions/climate will be quite different from mine, but many hardy geraniums will work. They do well with spring bulbs, but I doubt hyacinths would be happy as they prefer good light. Easy ones like crocus, snowdrops and small daffs would be ok. Any perennials will need decent watering until well established, so if you do it in the next few months, you'd need to make sure of that until autumn. I grow things like Aquilegias under my Philadelphus too, but I use hardy geraniums and they're pretty foolproof. The Aquilegias can be very easy from seed.
For evergreen coverage, I use Pachysandra, but it doesn't like being too dry, so you may have to be vigilant if the ground dries out too much. Things like Brunnera and Epimedium will work too. I find Ajuga useful in that kind of site, but again, the dryness of soil can have an impact, and it seeds and spreads easily, so just be aware of that.
Some ferns are very happy in dry sites too, so you could look at those - many people feel they only love damp shade, so it's a question of seeing what your soil is going to be like, and then choosing a suitable type. There will be other plants which will be happy in drier, shadier sites, but it's not something I have much of here so I can't really advise on those.
The most important thing to do would be to beef up the soil first though. That will help anything newly planted, and is great whether the conditions are damper or drier. It'll also benefit the Phiadelphus itself