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A Mock Orange Hedge

SpringBobSpringBob Posts: 16
in Plants
Hi Everybody,

I'd be grateful for any advice, I'm considering a hedge using Mock Orange between myself and my neighbour. I don't require the hedge to act as a boundary as an open style fence is already in place between the gardens and the bushes will stand on my side of the fence.

I would like to use the mock orange to provide a little privacy for both the neighbour and ourselves. I also would like to keep the hedge trimmed in a formal hedge style to a depth of approximately 24 inches, height is not an issue and.

Will the Mock orange be suitable for what I require ?

All advice / suggestions gratefully received.


Regards Bob

Posts

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Hello and welcome, Bob. The main difficulty with mock orange - philadelphus, is that it flowers on wood produced the year before so if you trim and shape it into a hedge, you are likely to lose the flowers, which are its main attraction. They tend to be very loose, untidy shrubs rather than neat and dense, so I'm not sure how good a hedge they would make. They are lovely as garden shrubs, though.
  • pansyfacepansyface Posts: 21,907
    edited February 2020
    Hello Bob,

    This is what your mock orange hedge would look like for about 5 months of the year, at least it would here. Lovely in June, when it flowers, bearable while it has leaves, but otherwise no great shakes.


    Deciduous plants have to earn their keep in my garden. So, for a deciduous hedge I would go for the winter flowering ones. There’s Viburnum bodnantense, seen flowering today




    Or even better, Lonicera fragrantissima, which is not only flowering right now but filling the garden with perfume. And it’s already coming into leaf, unlike the Philadelphus.
    Apophthegm -  a big word for a small thought.
    If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,231
    It is also a blackfly magnet. I got rid of mine for that reason.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,140
    Mock orange can be lovely but is very difficult to keep pruned to a shape as it then produced even more dense wood in the middle.

    If you want the orange perfume and your garden is not too cold, think instead of having choisya ternata.  It is evergreen and, when happy, produces white flowers with an orange perfume.  
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • SpringBobSpringBob Posts: 16
    Thankyou everyone,

    Well I think I'll be rethinking that idea and certainly considering some of the alternatives that others have offered.

    Most obliged for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
    Thanks
    Bob
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