Plant Library

Other Names:  Chinese Pittosporum

Description:

A beautiful green shub that may eventually reach ten feet high without pruning; emerging foliage is yellow-green, maturing to a deep, glossy green; fragrant, creamy flower clusters in spring; perfect for a hedge or screen

Ornamental Features

Chinese Mock Orange is clothed in stunning clusters of fragrant white bell-shaped flowers with buttery yellow overtones at the ends of the branches from mid to late spring. It has attractive dark green evergreen foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and remain dark green throughout the winter.

Landscape Attributes

Chinese Mock Orange is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a shapely oval form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and can be pruned at anytime. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Chinese Mock Orange is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Chinese Mock Orange will grow to be about 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is not originally from North America.

Chinese Mock Orange makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.