Philadelphus coronarius or mock orange is a deciduous shrub that has a rounded, dense growth habit. Most mock orange varieties feature serrated, oval, dark green leaves with pretty, four-petal, cup-shaped flowers in late spring or early summer. These shrubs come with a fairly quick growth rate that can easily grow two feet or more a year, and they’re best planted in early fall or in the early spring months.
The fragrant, lovely flowers your mock orange varieties produce are said to resemble orange blossoms, and this is how the mock orange name came around. They are rich with nectar that attracts pollinators like butterflies. Here, we’re going to outline several great mock orange varieties that vary in climate tolerance and sie but share the pretty floral appeal that all mock orange varieties have.
1. Aureus Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius ‘Aureus’)
This mock orange variety is one of the very few mock orange species that are native to Europe, and it’s commonly called sweet mock orange. This plant is a very attractive specimen to consider when it’s blooming and when it’s not in bloom due to the display it puts on of bright yellow hued leaves that appear early in the spring.
- Flowering Season – Late spring through summer to fall
- Maximum Growth – Eight feet tall and five feet wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Four to seven
Aureus Mock Orange by Andy Morffew / CC BY 2.0
2. Beauclerk Mock Orange (Philadelphus ‘Beauclerk’)
Beaclerk mock orange is a hybrid mock orange variety. This hybrid is a cross between Philadelphus Lemoinei (which is a hybrid itself), and Philadelphus coulteri. This makes it a mix of three different mock orange species. This particular plant produces two-inch flower blossoms that come in shades of white. Setting this mock orange variety apart from other flowers, the big blossoms have centers that are a pinkish blue color under the classic spray of yellow stamens.
- Flowering Season – Early to the middle of summer
- Maximum Growth – Up to eight feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Beauclerk Mock Orange by Kevin Burnett / CC BY-NC 2.0
3. Belle Etoile Mock Orange (Philadelphus x lemoinei ‘Belle Etoile’)
This is another mock orange variety that is a hybrid plant. Belle Etoile has earned the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. When you compare it to most other mock orange species on the list, you’ll get a much stronger and more intense fragrance, a longer blooming season each year, and bigger flowers.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early summer
- Maximum Growth – Up to eight feet wide and six feet tall
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to nine
Belle Etoile Mock Orange by jacki-dee / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
4. Caucasus Mock Orange (Philadelphus caucasicus)
One of the few mock orange varieties native to Europe, Caucasus mock orange comes from the Caucasus, as the name suggests. It’s a larger plant on the list as it tops out at 12 feet tall and wide, and it’s a big deciduous shrub that gives you ovate, vibrant-green leaves and spindly racemes of white, delicate flower blooms. To take full advantage of this plant, make sure that you plant it in a spot with a lot of room to accommodate how quickly it’ll grow.
- Flowering Season – Springtime
- Maximum Growth – 12 feet tall and wide at most
- USDA Growing Zone – Six to nine
Caucasus Mock Orange by 阿橋 HQ / CC BY-SA 2.0
5. Dainty Lady Mock Orange (Philadelphus Dainty Lady)
This is an exceptionally taller, well-scented variety with a nice upright growth habit with pure white flowers that open from crimson-hued buds that stay in place to create a nice contrast. This mock orange variety is a great plant to have as a specimen in your yard for the colorful flower clusters and strong scent. It does well in poor, dry conditions that responds well to regular fertilizer applications. You can pair it with silvery-leaves, blue-flowered pulmonaries like Argentea to get a pretty combination.
- Flowering Season – Springtime
- Maximum Growth – Six feet tall
- USDA Growing Zones – Nine
Dainty Lady Mock Orange by Martin Stone / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
6. Erectus Mock Orange (Philadelphus ‘Erectus’)
Philadelphus Erectus is a mock orange variety that grows just as the name suggests, in a mostly erect, upright habit. This makes it nice for hedges or privacy fences. It has branches and arms that get covered with small, ovate leaves in a rich deep green hue. When it blossoms, the branches produce very delicate white flowers that are roughly an inch in diameter. Although the flowers are on the smaller side, they’re highly fragrant and abundant.
- Flowering Season – Late spring to very early summer
- Maximum Growth – Five feet tall and wide at maturity
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Erectus Mock Orange by peganum / CC BY-SA 2.0
7. Hairy Leaved Mock Orange (Philadelphus hirsutus)
This mock orange variety is native to the southeastern portion of the United States. Although it’s not typically considered to be a prized garden plant since it has particularly no ornamental value, it has ovate, attractive foliage with creamy white flowers that blossom on arching branches. This species gets the scientific and common names from the noticeable white hairs that grow from the stems and leaves. These fibers give the plant a hairy look that sets it apart from other mock orange varieties.
- Flowering Season – Very early spring to summer
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Six to nine
Hairy Leaved Mock Orange by 阿橋 HQ / CC BY-SA 2.0
8. Hoary Mock Orange (Philadelphus pubescens)
The hoary mock orange variety is a species that is native to the eastern portion of the United States. This deciduous, perennial shrub provides huge clusters of big flowers in a frosty white color. Each one is roughly two inches across, and it features four upturned petals with a clutch of yellow stamens at the center. During the peak blooming time, and shrub is almost completely covered in white, fragrant flowers. They attract a range of pollinators like butterflies and bees too.
- Flowering Season – Late spring to the middle of summer
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Six to nine
Hoary Mock Orange by manuel m. v. / CC BY 2.0
9. Korean Mock Orange (Philadelphus schrenkii)
Native to northeastern China, Korea, and southeastern Russia, this mock orange variety is commonly referred to as the Korean mock orange. It will produce large clusters of big white flowers that are roughly 1 ½ inches across and five to seven flowers in each cluster. When they bloom, you’ll get a highly fragrant shrub that is covered in a proliferation of blossoms. They are a great choice for planting a new hedgerow due to the quick growth, or as a privacy screen. However, the leaves are deciduous and will only give you privacy during the spring and summer.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early summer
- Maximum Growth – Six feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Korean Mock Orange by Leonora (Ellie) Enking / CC BY-SA 2.0
10. Lemoinei Mock Orange (Philadelphus x lemoinei)
In 1884, Victor Lemoine, a French flower breeder, crossed the Europe-native Philadelphus coronarius with the southwestern United States-native Philadelphus microphyllus to create this mock orange variety. Some cultivars in this species have been the recipients of the Garden of Merit award from the Royal Horticultural Society.
Cultivars in this mock orange variety typically have a much more intense fragrance to them, slightly longer blooming times, and bigger flowers than other mock orange species. This hybrid is also a more compact mock orange variety, and this makes it a great pick for smaller garden spaces.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early summertime
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
- Maximum Growth – Three to four feet tall and wide
Lemoinei Mock Orange by Alwyn Ladell / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
11. Lewis’ Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
Native to the United States in the northwestern area, this mock orange variety has a very unique place in American history. It was first collected for scientific purposes by Meriwether Lewis in 1806 on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It’s also the state flower of Idaho. Lewis’s mock orange plant is a big deciduous shrub, and it has flowers that are very long-lasting and emit a very sweet orange-like fragrance with a hint of pineapple.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early fall
- USDA Growing Zones – Four to nine
- Maximum Growth – 12 feet tall and wide
Lewis’ Mock Orange by John Rusk / CC BY 2.0
12. LittleLeaf Mock Orange (Philadelphus microphyllus)
This mock orange variety is native to the desert regions that span from south to northern Mexico up to Wyoming in the United States. This cultivar is notable for the small leaves and flowers it produces that bloom mostly singularly, or they can bloom in clusters of two or three. Due to the native range, it’s one that is extremely drought-tolerant to make it a very popular plant for low-water-use gardens or low-maintenance gardens.
- Flowering Season – Late spring to early summer
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to nine
- Maximum Growth – Seven feet tall and wide
LittleLeaf Mock Orange by Nicholas Turland / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
13. Manteau D’Hermine Mock Orange (Philadelphus Manteau D’Hermine)
A very compact, delightful, double-flowered mock orange variety with fragrant white flowers that gather in big bunches of up to five throughout the summer. Due to the neat growth habit and fragrant flowers, this is a plant that is perfect to use to fill in your small gardens, and it even works in container gardens. You can combine it with the glossy, bold foliage that bergenias have to create a fun contrast.
- Flowering Season – Summer to fall
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – 8 to 10
Manteau D’Hermine Mock Orange by Leonora (Ellie) Enking / CC BY-SA 2.0
14. Minnesota Snowflake Mock Orange (Philadelphus Minnesota Snowflake)
This mock orange variety is very compact, and it has flowering branches that get weighted down by a mass of completely double-fragrant flowers with starry inner petals that cover the whole plant. This is a very cold-hardy plant, and it’s great for colder planting zones. It makes a great specimen when it’s in full bloom. It has silvery-leaved deadnettle that will fill in around the base of your plant if you’re looking for something to parner it with.
- Flowering Season – Late spring to summer
- Maximum Growth – Five feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Minnesota Snowflake Mock Orange by Internet Archive Book Images / CC0 1.0
15. Rose Syringa Mock Orange (Philadelphus mexicanus ‘Rose Syringa’)
You’ll get a cultivar of the species that is native to Guatemala and Mexico when you choose this mock orange variety. It has a unique spread growth habit with white flowers that have lavender-pink markings at the center points. Syringe is actually a genus name for the plants you commonly call lilacs. Although the two genera don’t have close relations, the confusion surrounding these naming conventions started in the 16th century when species of Syringa and Philadelphus were commonly imported into gardens across Europe together.
- Flowering Season – Summertime
- Maximum Growth – Six feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – 8 to 10
Rose Syringa Mock Orange by peganum / CC BY-SA 2.0
16. Snowbelle Mock Orange (Philadelphus x virginalis ‘Snowbelle’)
This mock orange variety is a cultivar of a hybrid, and it was first cultivated purely to have a plant to show off. It has almost fuzzy looking and extremely ornate double flowers that bloom in circular clusters that surround central raemes. The fragrant white flowers look very similar to snowbells, and this is where the species gets the name from. It’s a much more compact mock orange variety, and it’s also more versatile when you use it to fill in your garden because it can fit into much smaller areas without crowding the plants around it.
- Flowering Season – Springtime
- Maximum Growth – Four feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Snowbelle Mock Orange by beautifulcataya / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
17. Starbright Mock Orange (Philadelphus ‘Starbright’)
Mock Orange Starbright is another hybrid cultivar on the list, and it features various species in the makeup. This specific hybrid was created in Newfoundland in the Memorial University Botanical Garden, and it offers very fragrant white flowers with ovate, deep green foliage like so many mock orange varieties. However, this is a very hardy hybrid that was created to fare better in colder planting zones than most of them. It’s a zone three plant, and it can survive where winters get as cold as -30 to -40 degrees F without any damage.
- Flowering Season – Later spring
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Three to seven
Starbright Mock Orange by alh1 / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
18. Sweet Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius)
Philadelphus coronarius is the mock orange variety that goes by the common name of Sweet Mock Orange. It’s a plant that native to the southeastern portion of Europe, and it’s a very popular plant around the world. This particular species has a very sweet and powerful scent, and it has several popular hybrids on the market. However, the fragrance you get with hybrids of this species falls far short of the original.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early summer
- USDA Growing Zones – Four to seven
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide
Sweet Mock Orange by Ava Babili / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
19. Sybille Mock Orange (Philadelphus ‘Sybille’)
This cultivar is known as Philadelphus Sybille or just Sybille, usually gives you white, single, cup-shaped flowers that will slowly turn a creamy purple color at the center. The flowers are extremely fragrant when they bloom, and they’re very eye-catching as they’re two inches across at full maturity. They stand out nicely against the backdrop of dark green foliage.
- Flowering Season – Later spring to early summer
- Maximum Growth – Four feet tall and six feet wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Five to eight
Sybille Mock Orange by by Leonora (Ellie) Enking / CC BY-SA 2.0
20. Variegated Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius ‘Variegatus’)
Variegated mock orange is a cultivar that originally comes from the species that is native to the southeastern portion of Europe. This mock orange variety is notable for having very striking foliage. The leaves are ovate and pointed in a medium-green color. The leaves are rimmed with irregular borders in a creamy white. When they’re in bloom, you’ll see cup-shaped, white flowers in large clusters all over the shrub.
- Flowering Season – Late spring to early summer
- Maximum Growth – Six feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Four to seven
Variegated Mock Orange by Plant Image Library / CC BY-SA 2.0
21. Virginal Mock Orange (Philadelphus lewisii)
The final mock orange variety on the list is a multi-continental hybrid cultivar. It has very ornate double flowers that are more elaborate than other options of mock orange. This plant is also rather fast-growing and tall, so it gains high at a decently quick pace when you plant it. In turn, this makes it a nice addition to the bac of the garden as it can add depth, height, and visual interest throughout the summer, spring, and fall months.
- Flowering Season – Spring
- Maximum Growth – 10 feet tall and wide
- USDA Growing Zones – Four to eight
Virginal Mock Orange by beautifulcataya / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Bottom Line
These 21 mock orange varieties can make fantastic additions to your yard or garden, no matter if you have a larger space to fill or or a small one. You can match the cultivar you pick out to your needs and climate to ensure that it grows well and has plenty of blooms throughout the growing season.
