Shrub · Pittosporaceae
Japanese Pittosporum
Pittosporum tobira
An easygoing evergreen shrub that handles sun, shade, drought, and hard shearing and still smells like orange blossom in spring.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 8–10
8–13 ft · 2.4–4 m
Overview
Japanese pittosporum is about as dependable as mild-climate shrubs get. It grows fast into a dense, rounded evergreen covered in glossy, leathery leaves, and come late spring it's smothered in little creamy flowers that smell strongly of orange blossom. That scent is exactly why folks call it mock orange, even though it's got nothing to do with the real mock orange.
So what wins people over? It asks for almost nothing. Once it's settled in, it laughs off drought, heat, and salt spray, it's fine in full sun or deep shade, and it barely cares about soil as long as the water drains away. Fancy a crisp hedge? Shear it. Prefer it loose? Let it mound. Want height? Train it up into a little tree.
Give it its head and it gets big, pushing toward 8 to 13 feet (2.4 to 4 m) with an even wider spread, which makes it great as a screen or a backdrop. If that's too much, the dwarf forms stay low for borders and foundations. The one thing it won't put up with is wet feet, and that's what does in more pittosporum than anything else.
Care
The short version: it'll take full sun to shade, wants a deep drink now and then rather than constant watering once it's established, and grows in any soil that drains well; give it a shear after it flowers and keep its roots out of soggy ground.
Light
Light? Pittosporum really isn't picky, and it'll take anything from full sun to full shade. It flowers best and grows thickest out in the sun, but it still does fine tucked in a shady corner where plenty of other shrubs would go thin.
Water
Water it deeply but infrequently, and let the top half of the soil dry out between drinks. Once it's established it's genuinely drought tolerant, so the bigger worry is actually the other direction: soggy, poorly drained soil brings on fatal root rot in a hurry.
Soil
Just about any well-drained soil works, whether that's clay, sand, or loam, anywhere across a pH from 6.0 to 7.5. The only rule you can't bend is drainage, because standing water is what kills this plant.
Temperature
It copes with a big range, from around 10°F to 100°F (-12°C to 38°C), so it stays evergreen through mild winters and doesn't mind summer heat one bit.
Humidity
Regular outdoor humidity is plenty, and there's no number to fuss over. What matters more is good airflow, since crowded, damp foliage is what brings on leaf spot and sooty mold.
Feeding
Feed it once in spring with a balanced general-purpose shrub fertilizer and it's set. On high-pH soils, keep an eye out for micronutrient shortfalls like magnesium, and top them up if the leaves start yellowing between the veins.
Pruning
Prune it right after the spring flowers fade, because next year's blooms set on old growth, and cut too late and you'll snip them off. It handles hard shearing without any drama, so you can keep it as a tight hedge or train it into a small tree.
Repotting
Container plants want a fresh, roomier pot every 2 to 3 years. Repot when roots start circling the surface or poking out the drainage holes, or when water runs straight through and growth stalls.
Size & spacing
Leave it be and it hits 8 to 13 feet (2.4 to 4 m) tall with a spread of 4 to 18 feet (1.2 to 5.5 m), so give it real room as a screen or hedge. If space is tight, the dwarf cultivars stay a whole lot smaller.
When to plant
Pittosporum is an evergreen for milder gardens, hardy roughly in zones 8 to 10. Get new plants in the ground in spring or fall while the weather's easy, and you'll get those scented flowers in late spring, around April and May.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: spring or fall in mild climates
- Harvest: late spring (April-May)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 8–10
Temperature: down to -12°C
Troubleshooting
Pittosporum is tough, so when something's off, it nearly always comes down to one of two things: pests dripping honeydew, or roots stuck sitting in water. Have a look at the early signs below, match them to what you're seeing, and jump in before a little problem turns into a big one.
The whole shrub going yellow and floppy even though you're watering
If a pittosporum turns yellow, wilts, and goes downhill all at once, the culprit is almost certainly root rot from soil that stays too wet. This shrub really can't handle wet feet, and once the roots go dark and mushy, there's usually no bringing them back. So back off the water, sort out the drainage, and pull anything that's clearly too far gone.
Fix:
- Improve drainage and stop overwatering immediately
- Remove and discard severely affected plants, as root rot is often lethal
- Replant healthy stock in a well-drained site where water does not accumulate
That black sticky film all over the leaves and stems
See a black coating on the leaves? That's just sooty mold, and it's only a symptom. Aphids, cottony cushion scale, or mealybugs are feeding up top and dribbling sticky honeydew, and the mold's happy to grow on it. Give the plant a good coat of horticultural oil to smother the bugs, and once they're gone the film wipes right off.
Fix:
- Spray plants thoroughly with horticultural oil to smother scale, mealybugs, and aphids
- Repeat applications as directed and wash off sooty mold once pests are controlled
- Hose off light aphid populations with a strong stream of water
Little spots and blotches turning up on the leaves
Spots dotted across the leaves usually mean fungal or bacterial leaf spot, and it likes to move in when the foliage stays damp and crowded. The fix is easy enough: open the plant up so air can move through, water down at the base instead of over the top, and pull off the leaves that look the worst. And don't stress about it, because it's a cosmetic thing, not a real danger to the shrub.
Fix:
- Improve air circulation by thinning and proper spacing
- Avoid overhead watering and keep foliage dry
- Remove and dispose of badly spotted leaves
Toxicity
Good news first: pittosporum isn't on the list of seriously poisonous plants. That said, it's no snack. The leaves, stems, and seeds hold saponins that irritate the gut, so a pet that chews on them can wind up drooling and queasy. Nothing on it is grown to be eaten, so keep it away from curious mouths.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Mild
If a cat has a chew on the leaves, it might drool, throw up, or turn its nose up at dinner for a bit. That's the saponins at work, and honestly the upset usually sorts itself out once the plant's somewhere the cat can't get to.
Dogs Mild
A dog that gnaws the leaves or seed pods will probably drool and get a queasy stomach. It hardly ever turns serious, though a big mouthful can buy them a rough day of throwing up.
Horses Caution
A horse isn't likely to go hunting for it, but here's the thing: those same saponins can upset the gut if a bored one starts nibbling. Keeping it away from paddocks is the easy call.
Rabbits Caution
This isn't rabbit food, plain and simple. The saponin-loaded leaves can leave a rabbit with a sore tummy, so it's best to keep it off the menu.
Livestock Caution
Cattle, goats, and sheep will mostly walk on by, but a hungry one stripping the leaves could pick up the same gut trouble. A fence between them and the shrub does the trick.
Birds Caution
Wild birds tuck into the sticky seeds no problem at all, but the saponins make the leaves a bad idea for pet birds, so there's no reason to offer it.
People Caution
Nothing on this plant is grown to eat, and the saponins can leave you feeling off if you swallow leaves or seeds. Just keep an eye on small kids so they don't pop any part in their mouths.
No part of the plant is meant to be eaten; the saponins make even a curious nibble unpleasant, though it is not life-threatening in small amounts.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
A handful of named forms show up way more than the plain species, mostly variegated leaves and compact dwarfs. These are the ones worth knowing about.
Variegata
It's got gray-green leaves trimmed with an uneven creamy-white edge that lightens the whole plant and looks a good bit brighter than the plain species.
Wheeler's Dwarf
It's a tidy mounding dwarf that stays around 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm), barely needs pruning, and slots right into low borders and foundation plantings.
Cream de Mint
It's a dense little cultivar with neat mint-green leaves outlined in creamy white.
How to propagate
Pittosporum is easy to make more of, and most people go straight for cuttings, since they root without a fight and keep a cultivar true.
Stem cuttingsEasy
Mid-July to September · Several weeks to a few months to root
Want more pittosporum? Cuttings are the easy way to go. Take semi-hardwood cuttings anytime from mid-July through September, dip the ends in rooting hormone, and pop them into a 50/50 mix of peat and perlite somewhere nice and humid. It roots without much fuss, though you'll want to give it several weeks to a few months to really take hold.
SeedModerate
When ripe seed is available · Slow; weeks to germinate and longer to reach planting size
You can grow the species from seed too, once you've got ripe seed on hand. It's the slower way to do it, taking weeks to germinate and longer still to reach planting size, and heads up: seedlings won't keep a named cultivar true the way cuttings will.
Myths
Japanese pittosporum is the same plant as true mock orange.
Nope, they just happen to share a nickname. Pittosporum tobira picked up the name mock orange because its flowers smell like orange blossom, but it lives in the family Pittosporaceae and has no relation to the true mock orange, Philadelphus. They're really just two different shrubs from two different families that bloom with a similar scent.