Mock Orange

Philadelphus Belle Etoile

• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: fertile, well-drained soil
• Rate of growth: average
• Flowering period: June and July
• Hardiness: fully hardy
  
  In June and July this lovely mock orange is smothered with highly fragrant, single, cup-shaped flowers with distinctive splashes of purple at the centre. The delicate, orange-blossom fragrance floats on the breeze on warm summer evenings. This compact variety produces abundant, gorgeous, bridal-white flowers set off perfectly by oval, deep green leaves. This is an essential, low-maintenance shrub for a sunny mixed border, and it can also cope with poor soil, urban pollution and salt-laden air.
  
  
• Garden care: Mulch around the roots in spring with a deep layer of well-rotted garden compost or manure. Prune in late summer, immediately after flowering, removing one in four of the older stems to ground level.
  
  
• Goes well with: Buddleja 'Lochinch', Choisya ternata, Stachys byzantina, Echinops ritro, Lamium maculata 'Beacon Silver', Lavandula augustifolia 'Hidcote'