We’ve all made them at one time or another. If you haven’t then you deserve a medal – or a very large trophy to sit on your mantlepiece.

This is a story about an old but lovely Philadelphus, that starts with a garden shed.

When we had to replace the garden shed, it turned into one of those stories where one job leads to another…and another. I’m sure you’ve all been there – you have a good idea to redecorate a room, go out, buy the paint and everything else you need. Then you realise that you must empty the room first, but where do you put everything that is moving out? The only available room can’t quite accommodate all the incoming contents, so you have to move some items elsewhere. And so it goes, a simple paint job turns into an overwhelming project.

It was like that when the old shed needed to be replaced. My husband decided to build one himself and bought the materials to do it. But the old shed had to be taken down, which meant it had to be emptied. Some contents would be kept and some disposed of. The remaining contents would have to be stored in the garage, but the garage was already full. Multiple trips were made to the recycling centre and eventually, the hut contents were moved to their temporary home.

The old shed came down remarkably fast but the area around it also had to be cleared. That involved cutting back overgrown shrubs and digging up a couple of others. We tackled the job with plenty of vigour but not much thought. Soon the new shed was under construction. It was a two-man job, and even though the littlest construction helper didn’t quite understand the tools, he got the general idea and eventually grandad and grandson were able to stand back and admire their handiwork.

Within this area there lived a long-forgotten, but once lovely Philadelphus. It had been planted many years ago and as time worked its way through the garden, other shrubs grew around it and like Sleeping Beauty’s Palace, it vanished from sight.

But this Philadelphus was not to be beaten. It was a determined plant and it made itself known by growing upwards, and several determined branches, seeking daylight, pushed their way through a large Berberis into an open space we had created in the border – and flowered. It was so pretty and the perfume was phenomenal. That was the moment I remembered, with delight, that it was there.

However, the Philadelphus branches were so badly tangled among the Berberis and other shrubs that there was no option but to ruthlessly cut it back. I can’t tell you how sad I was to do that. After all that time it had been forgotten, and just as it returned to wow us all, it was getting the chop.

The Philadelphus hadn’t been dug out and happily last year it started growing again, but without those lovely white, perfumed flowers. I’m hopeful it will recover in time; it’s still alive so perhaps this year it will present us with a display of its fabulous spring flowers. Will this be a Happy-Ever-After story? Time will tell.

As an aside, just before this newly discovered and then ruthlessly chopped back Philadelphus returned in a display of glory, two more had been added to the garden. Or so I thought. Below is Philadelphus ‘Snowbelle’ which should only grow to 1.5m (5ft) and will be more controllable.

The second is Philadelphus ‘Manteau d’Hermine’. The problem here is that I’ve hunted high and low in this modestly-sized garden and I can’t find it! Perhaps the clue is in the 2021 order history on the supplier’s website where it states ‘awaiting despatch’. 😐

Happy Gardening!

Catherine 😁