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Texas Mock Orange (Philadelphus texensis) and its almost identical relative, Canyon Mock Orange (P. ernestii), resemble miniature versions of the long popular non-native mock oranges and their cultivars, which have been grown as ornamentals since at least the early 1800s.
Our native mock oranges are ornamental delights that grow one to three feet high with little dark glossy leaves. The multi-branched limbs are crowded with blooms in April and May, silky-white and fragrant. The flowers are only three quarters of an inch across and have four white petals around a bright-yellow center of numerous stamens. Jill Nokes in How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest claims that Texas Mock Orange “produces flowers more prolifically” than canyon mock orange.
These natives can be used in home landscapes as low-growing flowering shrubs in shady locations. They are not typically found in nurseries but ask for it. A few wholesale nurseries grow it, and we expect it to become increasingly available in the retail trade. Although it has no legal protection at present, collecting mock orange from the wild is highly discouraged. Besides, it doesn’t transplant very easily.
In their natural habitat, Texas and Canyon Mock Orange grow on boulders and steep walls in moist limestone canyons. Jill Nokes writes that Texas Mock Orange will adapt to heavier soil as far north as Dallas. Plant it in shady moist locations or where moisture can be provided. Its fragrant flowers and compact size make it an attractive shrub for planting near the house. Give it conditions similar to where it grows naturally – partial shade in moist but well drained soil. It will need protection from browsing deer.
Both mock oranges are endemic to the southeastern Edwards Plateau. Texas Mock Orange occurs only in Bandera, Edwards, Real, and Uvalde Counties, and Canyon Mock Orange is known only in Bandera, Blanco, Comal, Hays, Kendall, and Travis Counties. About the only way to distinguish the two in the field is by hairs on the underside of the leaf. Lower leaf surfaces of P. ernestii are covered with short straight hairs, while those of P. texensis are matted with a mix of short straight and long tangled hairs.
Planting our less-abundant native plants can be a way to help offset the effects of the decrease in native species diversity brought on by loss of habitat, deer browsing and invasion of exotics. And they’ll make an uncommon and interesting addition to your plants.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: Bill Hopkins
