Heaven scent
Heaps of flowers and a fragrance to die for – it’s time for a big philadelphus comeback!
There was a time when it would have been virtually impossible to stroll down any residential street in high summerwithout being repeatedly ambushed by the heady, fruity scent of philadelphus flowers wafting across the path from somebody’s front garden.
A potent cocktail of orange blossom, jasmine and the sticky, sugary aroma of traditional sweet shops, the scent from the creamywhite blooms that smotherthe branches of these deciduous shrubs filled the airof ourtowns and cities.
The plants were at theirpeak of popularity from the 1920s until the 1960s, but were a common sight in both front and back gardens from the turn of the 20th Century until the end of the 1990s. Since then, they’ve been replaced in ouraffections by a host of trendy newcomers.
As a result of changing plant fashions, philadelphus are now rarely seen in gardens. In fact, I walked the entire length of my street to see how many properties featured one of these shrubs, and discovered just one in a total of 130 front gardens.
People really don’t know what they’re missing. Few summerflowering shrubs have such good perfume and the floral display is sensational. Individual plants strut theirstuff forabout five weeks, from late spring until the end of summer,depending on the variety.
Theirsnowy white flowers are held singly orin huge clusters, and come in many shapes and sizes. The cup, bowl orstar-shaped blooms can be single, semi-double orfully double, with petals that vary from narrow to broad. Some have a boss of yellow stamens or a distinctive splash of purple in the centre.
As they are so light, the flowers stand out clearly against a foil of oval, mid-green leaves. Some people complain that philadelphus are boring once the blooms fade, but there are also varieties with showy, variegated and golden foliage.
Philadelphus a re na t i v e to Europe, East Asia and North and Central America, where they can be found growing in scrubland, woodland edges and rocky sites. Ornamental varieties are ideal formixed orshrub borders, woodland gardens oras specimens. Tallerones can be grown as a hedge.
Wild species have been grown in Britain since the 16th Century, when Philadelphus coronarius arrived from southern Europe. The scent of its blooms wasn’t universally popularat the time. Herbalist John Gerard wrote: ‘Its white flowers are too sweet, troubling and molesting the head in a very strange manner.’
Several more philadelphus made theirway to ourshores overthe next few centuries, including Philadelphus lewisii, a tall, spreading shrub from North America that was discovered in 1823 – its single, cupshapedflowers are gorgeous but are only lightly scented, if at all.
Although these wild plants are pretty, nobody much bothered with philadelphus foranother60 years orso. Everything changed in 1888, when French nurseryman Victor Lemoine unveiled Philadelphus ‘ Lemoinei’, a 5ft hybrid that produces masses of extremely fragrant flowers. It was the first in a string of highly desirable varieties introduced by his nursery that were snapped up by gardeners. Among them were ‘Avalanche’, ‘Innocence’ and ‘Girandole’. Dating from 1898, ‘Manteau d’Hermine’ grows to 30in and has creamy-white double flowers.
Most popularof the lot is Philadelpus ‘Virginal’, which was launched to great acclaim in 1909. Capable of reaching 10ft ormore, this upright shrub boasts heavily scented flowers that measure 2in across. It has long been considered the best of all double-flowered forms. Now, close to 200 varieties are available to gardeners. One of the most recent is Philadelphus maculatus ‘Mexican Jewel’, which was introduced by leading plantsman Martyn Rix. Eventually reaching 5ft, it boasts bubble-gumscented white flowers with a purple blotch in the centre. Foras long as I can remember, my favourite has been Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’. As a youngsterI was captivated by its evocative name rather than by its flowers, but have grown to admire this 8ft shrub forits single white flowers that are marked pale red in the centre. If you’re looking forsomething different, try ‘Buckley’s Quill’ forits 1in-wide flowers that are made up of 30 quill-like petals. Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’ has golden-yellow foliage that turns yellow-green in summer,while the dark green leaves of ‘Innocence’ are liberally splattered with yellow.
Philadelphus are happy in any type of soil so long as it’s fairly fertile and doesn’t dry out completely in summer.Most will thrive in full sun or partial shade, although golden-leaved forms are a little fussier– give them some protection from bright sunlight to prevent leaves scorching.
The majority get too big forpots, but ‘Little White Love’ is a compact beauty that grows to only about 3ft. Plants are ideal in 12in containers filled with soil-based compost, such as John Innes No3. Keep them healthy by watering regularly and feeding every month with a balanced liquid fertiliser.Prune plants immediately afterflowering to ensure a great display the following summerand to keep them within bounds. Cut back shoots to strong new growth, and remove a quarterof the olderstems.
Avoid pruning in winteras this removes embryonic flowerbuds.