Quote from Lee Garden Ninja on 17th November 2025, 2:52 pm

Hi @diane-g

Hi Diane!

That's brilliant news that your Philadelphus flowered well this year! There's nothing quite like that heady scent wafting through the garden in early summer, is there? Glad the advice helped get it performing for you.

Right, pruning advice. Looking at your plant, I'd actually recommend leaving it well alone for now. It's clearly still establishing itself and building up a strong framework of stems and branches, which is exactly what you want at this stage. Young Philadelphus need time to develop that sturdy structure before you start getting heavy-handed with the secateurs. Think of it like building a house – you need solid foundations before you worry about the decorating!

For the future though, when your Mock Orange is more established (usually from year three or four onwards), the golden rule is to prune it immediately after flowering, typically around July. The reason for this timing is that Philadelphus flowers on the previous year's wood, so if you prune in autumn or winter, you're essentially removing all the stems that would have given you flowers the following summer. Not ideal!

When you do eventually prune an established plant, you're looking to remove about a third of the oldest stems right down to ground level. This encourages vigorous new growth from the base which will flower brilliantly the following year, whilst keeping the shrub from becoming congested and woody in the centre.

So don't worry about missing the pruning window this year. Your plant is telling you it needs to focus on growing strong, and you should listen to it. Just enjoy the winter silhouette and look forward to those gorgeous blooms next summer!