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Probably going to show myself up here...but that doesn't look a Philadelphis, it looks more like a "Mexican Orange", or a Choisya Ternata as I would know it...?
If so, we see these frequently at business parks and it seems they do just come to an end, we've hard pruned them at right time of the year and have reasonable success at them rejuvenating....
Nice white flowers and a love it or hate it scent...
If I'm wrong...shoot me down gently ;-)
Hi Gary, thanks for the info. You'll more likely be right than me on the genus. But the leaves and flowers look very similar, and as you notice, it's a long time since I've had this.
It's just come to it's time you think? I have considered hard pruning to see what would happen. As it is I think in the long term it's all going to go the way of the middle if I don't do anything.
Tony
My take would be to consider hard pruning first if you have already decided you would replace it...as you have nothing to loose.
We quite regularly take these down hard as all new growth is on the outside face. Failing that we just budget to replace. I'd give shrubs like that a life span of 5 to 10 years on a business park before they are too big or damaged.
Hi, I agree with Gary re: plant identification. You can hard prune them but I've only done that successfully in summer as new shoots are very susceptible to frost damage. Not sure what would happen if you tackled it now. Agree with Gary's assessment of reason for damage also, they are very reliable plants but don't like very cold conditions as we had in winter 2010.
Thanks to Jenny and Gary for the input. I'll leave it until the spring and give it a hard prune and see what happens. If it looks bad I'll take it out and put in something new.
Exactly spot on advice - you and Gary beat men to it!
Jenny Owen said:
Its is choisya and we have also had this problem especially when the snow weight helped to split them, more of a problem on bushes that are not trimmed annually.We have cut them down hard and they either grew away very fast or we ended up digging them out! We tend to prune earl on otherwise the new growth is damaged.
Yes, all these replies seem to say that it got hit by the 2010 winter. My feeling is, looking at the base of the plant, that the splitting and damage probably means it will have to come out. It's a shame because it was planted the week when we moved-in here, so it's a bit like the welcoming 'friend' when we come home.
Why not take cuttings, or you might find rooted bits at the bottom. That way you have several new plants for no money, and they are all part of the old friend!
I wouldn't give up on it yet Tony. We managed to rescue one that looked like it had no life left in it at all.
You could try Paul's idea of cuttings also. Best time to take cuttings from Choisya is from July to October but it doesn't hurt to try and take some now from some of this years growth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
As for cutting right back, my pruning book recommends June but we did cut one right back in April and by the summer of that year it had some decent growth and by the following year it looked pretty good. I'd certainly give it a chance as it's obviously a special plant to you and fingers crossed for not too bad a winter for it.
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