I have this mock orange at the corner of my house and it has gotten out of hand size-wise. I've trimmed it from the top several times (it's probably 30 years old). There are no limbs coming out from the bottom for the first 5 feet or so....bare. Am I going to have to trim it down past where the bottom branches start in order to get growth on the bottom part of the tree or will that kill it? The top branches are higher than my 2nd storey window. Thank you for any suggestions.
Sorry the redbud gets in the way - it was the only way I could get a long shot.
No problem, you could even cut it to ground level and it would regrow.
Resin
Oh, Resin, you don't know what good news that is! My husband was afraind to let me "have at it". Thank you so much.
We cut ours back last summer(didn't care if had blooms or not) to about 2 feet. Yikes! It is already taller than my head and the summer is just beginning. It was about 15' last year and its working its way back up. Certainly didn't kill it--so have at it---chop away. I don't love mine anyway, wanted sweet smelling blooms but this one had no smell. Laverne--- owner of the monster mock orange.
Laverne - I have to admit that I don't love mine either, but my husband likes it. Plus it's in a corner that needs something sorta' big to cover. It's good to know that cutting them back doesn't do damage - I think I'm going to need a chain saw.
I actually love native mock-orange.
Mine have a nice fragrance.
I hard-prune mine all the time.
Usually they do fine.
But if not, 'volunteers' spontaneously replace them.
I cleared out a bunch of invasive eurasian honeysuckle 4-5 years ago.
There were occasional clumps of native mock orange, which I preserved.
But they were really leggy due to the competitian with the honeysuckles.
So once I cleared out the honeysuckle, I cut the mockoranges back severely.
They're doing fine now. Here's a post of one of them from last May.
I don't know what species this is - it's native to our area. I think it's beautiful.
weerobin - That's beautiful. Mine is so full of blooms this year, probably the best ever. I'm not liking the idea of pruning back, but it's good to know that they return again. It's just gotten so big that it's overshadowing everything. Wish my daylilies would take the hint.
so you all recommend pruning it now? plmk and thxs
glad i bumped into this thread i have a MO about 15' tall and wide - it is actually two of them. they will be cut to the ground after they finish blooming!
