Plant library · Shrubs
Choisya ternata
Mexican Orange is a rounded evergreen shrub that brings glossy foliage and fragrant white flowers to the garden from late spring into early summer. Reaching about 6 feet tall and wide, it has enough visual weight for a shrub border, foundation bed, or informal screen without becoming a tree-scale feature. Its permanent foliage makes it especially useful where beds need shape outside the flowering season.
Use Mexican Orange as a broad middle-to-back layer in a mixed border, or repeat it along a boundary where its rounded form can read as a continuous informal hedge. Keep it out of narrow strips beside paths: mature branches need room to hold their full outline without leaning into circulation. A sheltered position near a wall, fence, or protected bed suits its evergreen foliage, while allowing enough open space in front for lower plants and access for pruning.[1][2]
Set plants 5 feet apart, center to center, for a connected planting that can gradually form a unified mass. Each shrub may ultimately occupy a roughly 6-foot-wide footprint, so allow the outer edge of the bed to extend well beyond the planting line rather than placing it tight against paving or structures. For an individual specimen, reserve a clear circle about 6 feet across and leave a reachable edge from a path or lawn.
Give it partial sun and moderate water, with soil that drains freely rather than staying wet for long periods. In hotter exposures, morning sun with some protection from intense afternoon heat helps make placement easier in open beds. Avoid low pockets where water collects, and place irrigation so the root zone can be watered without routinely wetting a crowded planting area.[1][2][3]
The main floral display falls in late spring to early summer, so place Mexican Orange where its white flowers can brighten the view from an entry, patio, or frequently used path. Some plants can flower again lightly later in summer or fall. Because the foliage remains present year-round, leave its mature outline visible in the winter plan rather than relying on seasonal gaps around it.[1][2]
Mexican Orange is suited to USDA Zones 7 through 10. In colder parts of its range, avoid exposed sites that catch winter wind, especially where the shrub would be relied on as a year-round screen. Give it enough clearance from walls and fences to inspect the foliage and prune after the main flowering period without stepping into neighboring plants.[1][2]
Editorial content updated 2026-07-20.