What is the specific habitat of the Philadelphus lewisii (wild mock orange)?
What does this plant need from the habitat in order to survive?
What range does the Philadelphus lewisii grow in?
What family is it in?
What other plants does it often grow around?
What specific habitat does it need?
Where does it grow?
Is it an annual or a perennial plant?
Philadelphus lewisii is a Northwest native, a common shrub east and west of the Cascades. According to Trees and Shrubs for Pacific Northwest Gardens, 2nd edition by John A. Grant and Carol L. Grant, it will “thrive in almost any garden soil in either full sun or partial shade, and are of the easiest possible culture. The hybrids respond noticeably to generous cultivation , fertilizer, and water. (It belongs to) the group of summer-flowering shrubs that are best pruned immediately after flowering.\”
Philadelphus lewisii is a deciduous shrub (in other words, it is not an annual and, although it has a long life span, it is not like an herbaceous perennial that completes its life cycle and starts over the next spring–it is a woody deciduous plant which loses its leaves in winter). (Source: The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, edited by Christopher Brickell; Dorling Kindersley, 1996).
Here is a link to a page from the Washington Native Plant Society about Philadelphus lewisii and its habitat.
It is a Northwest native (state flower of Idaho), and grows throughout Western North America (from British Columbia south to Oregon), southern Europe, and eastern Asia.
The genus Philadelphus grows in rocky woods, semi-desert, and open areas in wet forest. In gardens, it prefers loamy soil and moderate sun.
The genus Philadelphus belongs to the Hydrangeaceae family.