{"id":3227,"date":"2019-12-27T00:12:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T08:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-861\/"},"modified":"2024-04-27T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T19:19:12","slug":"reviving-philadelphus","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/reviving-philadelphus\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviving Philadelphus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>I just bought a house with a garden which has good bones, but has been untended for a long time. I believe the garden has 4 <em>Philadelphus X virginalis<\/em> &#8216;Minnesota Snowflake&#8217; plants. They are deciduous in the winter, and they have greened up nicely in the summer. They are about 6 feet tall. On the 4 plants, this first summer, I&#8217;ve only seen 2 flowers. Can these shrubs be salvaged by using a blooming (high in phosphorus) fertilizer? Or do they need something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The three things I would ask about Philadelphus with few flowers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are they in full sun? (Sun is needed for best flowering results.)<\/li>\n<li>Have they been pruned and, if so, when? (Pruning is best done in late summer, after flowering.)<\/li>\n<li>Are they growing near a lawn or other area which receives fertilizer that is higher in Nitrogen (N) than Phosphorus (P) or Potassium (K)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I would recommend that you test the soil before embarking on a plan of fertilization, unless you are adding a mulch such as compost, which releases its nutrients slowly. Philadelphus is usually considered a light feeder (i.e., it doesn&#8217;t require a lot of supplemental fertilizer).<\/p>\n<p>As far as a future pruning regime for the shrubs, Jacqueline Heriteau&#8217;s <em>Complete Trees, Shrubs &amp; Hedges: Secrets for Selection and Care<\/em> (2005) says that Philadelphus &#8220;blooms on the previous year&#8217;s growth. A light annual pruning of older branches right after flowering keeps mock orange shapely and productive. Branches more than five years old should be removed in winter or early spring.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"taxonomy-keyword has-text-align-right wp-block-post-terms\"><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/failure-to-flower\/\" rel=\"tag\">Failure to flower<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/fertilizers\/\" rel=\"tag\">Fertilizers<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/philadelphus\/\" rel=\"tag\">Philadelphus<\/a><span class=\"wp-block-post-terms__separator\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/keyword\/pruning-shrubs\/\" rel=\"tag\">Pruning shrubs<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just bought a house with a garden which has good bones, but has been untended for a long time. I believe the garden has 4 Philadelphus X virginalis &#8216;Minnesota Snowflake&#8217; plants. They are deciduous in the winter, and they have greened up nicely in the summer. They are about 6 feet tall. On the 4 plants, this first summer, I&#8217;ve only seen 2 flowers. Can these shrubs be salvaged by using a blooming (high in phosphorus) fertilizer? Or do&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/reviving-philadelphus\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Reviving Philadelphus<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[468,150,944,275],"class_list":["post-3227","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-failure-to-flower","keyword-fertilizers","keyword-philadelphus","keyword-pruning-shrubs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3227"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}