Philadelphus

rosemummy

My philadelphus is a year old , well, a year in my garden, it' s on northwest fence and gets partial sun, plenty of foliage and 4 times size it was when I put it in, however it has no flowers and hardly any buds, have given it tomato feed and a general feed but only in the last 3 weeks, the new one I bought that's only a foot tall has loads of flowers, that's east facing, gets similar amount of sun, both belle toiletoile

MrsGarden

O oh, its shouting out 'when did you prune me?'. Without looking it up ( which I always do for this one) it wants 1/3 off flwered stems when its finished flowering.

Hope someone comes along a bit more precise for you.

Dave Morgan

Philadelphus flowers on wood produced the previous year. If you planted it last year, be patient as some shrubs take time to establish and flower either later or miss a year. It may have been pruned badly before purchase. I'd be patient and wait and see.

rosemummy

I didn't prune it at all last year, as it was only a foot high and had precisely 3 flowers last year,it didn't look a great specimen when I bought it, if i'd seen it this year I would have left it on the shelf, but I so wanted one and was pleased with it's general growth, so frustrating!

Hortum-cretae

It should be flowering now, so if you were going to cut anything out of it, that would be in the next couple of weeks, i.e. just after flowering, leaving it all the rest of summer to produce good wood for flower next year. Therefore, I'd remove, now, any weak or thin shoots, preserving strong wood and the best of any new growth already made, and allow it to mature for, hopefully, a better display next year.. 

rosemummy

thanks, i'll look if there's any growth i can trim, had a good look earlier, can see 2 buds, that's all

rosemummy

ok home from hols and said plant has produced 2 flowers,hmmm, didnt prune last year so now is the time i think to prune as hortum suggests? am so disappointed, loads of growth, though a lot of leaves have nibbled holes in the middle, have searched for culprits under leaves, couldn't see anything, could nibbling have contributed to poor flowering?

Dave Morgan

Nibbling will be snails, not a lot you can do, I'd feed it well and mulch it heavily and keep the soil moist over the summer. The new growth will shoot away and should do better next year. Some shrubs just take time to settle down especially if they've had a poor start so some patience and tlc is all that's required.

Toady

Just leave it to its own devices now unless it needs some water, the best Philadelphia in gardens I work in are huge and unpruned, the ones that encroach on paths and lawns and have to be pruned never flower as much. One in my Owen garden produces loads of flowers on the sunny side but only half a dozen or so in the shade, which is good for the neighbors but not me!