The Syringa Summerhouse and flowers from the garden June 2008
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Flowers | 11 comments
My mum pruned her Philadelphus on Sunday and had saved a large bunch of flowering branches for me.
The Philadelphus (Mock Orange) has a special meaning for mum. When she was a child she played in a Philadelphus summer house in her parents’ garden. She always calls it the Syringa Summerhouse. In those days Syringa was a name for Philadelphus and didn’t refer to lilac as it does now.
“The grown ups weren’t interested in it at all so I thought of it as mine.”
I’d always imagined this summerhouse at the end of a path, a bit off the beaten track. With a decent bench inside. The perfect place for a secret tryst.
I’ve since discovered that it was in a border. It was a three sided summerhouse with an open front, roof and a simple backless bench. But the key thing is that my mum can remember how it was constructed. Several shrubs had been trained over bamboo canes.
“It looked tatty in winter just a lot of twigs and sticks. But in early summer it was wonderful, with the scent of the flowers and when they faded it was still lovely sitting there with the dappled light shining through the leaves.”
Over the years I have planned to make a similar summer house but somehow never make a start. Suddenly, on Sunday I was carrying my future summerhouse in my arms. I plan to take cuttings from my mum’s Philadelphus bouquet.
Hopefully it won’t be long before we both can sit in the dappled light and let the scent waft over us, just as she did all those years ago.
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Is it just mine or does anyone else have a Philadelphus that flowers twice a year..First in May then I cut it back and then it starts to grow again and I get flowers in July/August
Hi Kate(uk)
Point taken. Liquid chicken poo will be administered!
I have a feeling the amazonian re-growth has something to do with being planted next to my row of compost bins- I suspect all the lovely composty juices that seep out into the soil around the bins as the compost matures have influenced the absurdly magnificent, lushly green and really rather scary growth of my philadelphus!
Hi Pat
The smell of the Philadelphus in the bunch is wonderful!
Hello Moonroot
Iâ„¢m determined to make this summerhouse!
Hi Cathy
Thatâ„¢s good news. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Kate(uk)
Your comment made me laugh! Will it be safe to sit in my summer house or will it engulf me?
Hi Scintilla
Thatâ„¢s interesting. Iâ„¢m beginning to think that I will not need the amount of shrubs that I thought I needed for the summer house!
Hi Amanda
Yes it does grow tallish, but the ones in the garden here havenâ„¢t got too tall as they are planted under trees.
I think I need to get myself some of that philadelphus. We need some really quick growing things in our garden for privacy – I’m guessing from what you and others have said it grows fairly tall if trained over things?
I have many Mock Orange bushes. The more I cut them back after flowering, the taller they get!
I pruned my philadelphus last year as it needed a bit of re-juvenation…it rained last summer, philadelphus likes rain…this spring I have a clump that could hide a housing estate, let alone a summerhouse…so I have a quandry: shall I cut it back again and risk it getting even bigger and engulfing the shed completely… then cutting it back again next year and it engulfs the garage too, then the greenhouse…then the house… Quatermass had nothing on my philadelphus!
Smells divine though.
Hello CS
Given the right conditions the Philadelphus will take root quite easily. And as it grows quite quickly into a large shrub you will have your summer house in no time
Lucky you 🙂
Take care
Cathy
That sounds delicious – I absolutely adore the scent of Philadelphus.
A lovely photo and a lovely mind picture too!!! Thanks!