SA Garden Catalogue: Mock Orange

It is the beautiful month of May and definitely spring time in the garden. Weather wise, the sky still rumbles and rains every so often, drenching 'the darling buds of May'. The days are getting longer, the humidity is very high and just being in the garden warrants a change of clothes, what with the drenching from copious sweat!

Many plants are in flower including the Mock orange. The Mock orange may be a compact shrub or small tree and loves the full sun.The white flowers are very fragrant, especially at dawn and dusk. They don't last long though, only 2-3 days.

                          Murraya paniculata (CNB 2012)

Common name: Mock orange
Scientific name: Murraya paniculata
Malay name: Kemuning
Family: Citrus
Origin: India and Southeast Asia to Australia

The fruits are small and citrus-like, going from green to yellow to crimson. Propagation is by seeds or marcots. I only have one potted plant of the Mock orange and placed in the full sun, it flowers quite a number of times yearly. If I had more space, I would definitely have one or two of this plant in the ground to grow into small trees, because the fragrant flowers then would make any garden a paradise ... (dream on ...)!

A potted Mock orange plant (CNB 2011)

10.05.13 6.56 pm