By Janiebrad
Cheshire,
United Kingdom 
Hi, Anyone have any ideas about mock orange bushes?? We've had ours about 10years plus, and it has suddenly withered & died on one side. My husband wanted to take it out, but it has now started to flower on the remaining side. Would it be ok to just remove the dead branch/side?? Thank you for all the advice regarding this. Have left a comment, but not sure which will get read. (Bit new to all this as yet!). Remaining side flowered, but now has gone all of a heap. Leaves drooped as if lack of water, even though my hubby religiously waters, even before a downpour as we had last night, if ground is dry so it will soak in better. Very sad, but maybe we should cut our losses?! Would having a rose of Sharon next to it be a disadvantage???
11 Apr, 2017
Answers
They can take hard pruning so if there is dead wood cut that out and after flowering prune it to recover a better shape, Try to take no more than 1/3 of the stems out.
mine did this about 8 years ago and it has recovered and looks more balanced now.
11 Apr, 2017
Well done Sbg ? Derek.
12 Apr, 2017
I hard pruned one that had been neglected for years and although it sacrificed a years flowers it made a full recovery.
12 Apr, 2017
Thank you all for your views regarding our Mock Orange. The part that was left started to flower and did well - then, all of a sudden the leaves drooped as if it was short of water, but my hubby had flogged the garden with water!! Not so much that it would drown it I must add, but now it just looks as if it has had it. We have had quite a few good windy days April thru until now (Sat 13 May '17). So maybe it is time to cut our losses???? :(
Many thanks once again to all Jane x
13 May, 2017
Hi, welcome to GoY, it sounds as though the shrub has been damaged in some way, just on the 1 side, I can't think of any disease that would just affect 1 side, check for any signs of a break in the branch or branches on that side, could have been caused by wind, animal, or even children.
If you prune out the dead side, I think it will look a bit odd, but if you want to try, I would prune 1 or 2 branches on the other side, to try and encourage it to produce new growth toward the damaged part, but I think it will be a very slow process waiting for this to happen, so may be better to enjoy the flowering side this year, and then replace it, Derek.
11 Apr, 2017