Gardenia jasminoides

[bubba]

We have more than a few in our yard.The best smelling Flower I know.I believe our variety is "Golden Magic".Just started going off here that I noticed and counted 12 on one Shrub.When do yours go off and where are you?

[DoomsDave]

Bubba!

Gardenias are a seriously cool family of plants.  G. jasminoides is only one of many.

Some of them are tiny things, others reach near treelike proportions.

If you can, see if you can get a "Mystery" which is supersized in every way, including blossoms the size of big roses, and that marvelous fragrance.

To answer your question, I've had them bloom most of the year round as long as the weather is warm enough.  I've got a tough, gnarly old one that blooms great when it's warm, but has been sorta snoozing in the cold, just getting out of the cold.

They should bloom year-round for you.

That smell almost gets you high . . . .

dave

[bubba]

Dave,They do bloom multiple times but this is the first I have seen this year.The smell of a Gardenia is the best.Anyone else growing these shrubs?

[SubTropicRay]

I've got a grafted plant that does beautifully.  The non grafted versions often do poorly because of the nematodes in Florida soil.

Ray

[bubba]

Ray,I think mine are grafted because they appear healthy.Are yours going off in South Tampa?

[fastfeat]

Chances are, if it has dark green foliage in South Florida, it is grafted on G. thunbergii. This South African species is much more tolerant of alkaline soils than G. augusta (G. jasminoides).

[bubba]

Ken, It is dark green and your prowess is appreciated as usual.

[SubTropicRay]

Ken,

It is South African root stock as a matter of fact.

Keith,

Mine is "blowing up" as we speak.  The smell is amazing.

Ray

[junglegalfla]

Am I the only one who thinks they smell like plastic? ??? They give me an instant headache. I have a very large one that came with the house. I believe it to be Miami supreme.  i tried to get Larry to dig it out & take it home but he said it was too big  

people say they can be fussy but this thing takes all my abuse. I give it a sever haircut each spring or it would be 15' tall by 10' wide.

right side of pic

[bubba]

Bren,The smell of the Gardenia is so intoxicating that it could be construed as overwhelming.Personally,I like that.At the same time,I understand your point of view.I do not smell plastic,however.

[gsn]

Bren,

You are NOT the only one.. The smell makes me kinda sick to my stomach!I can think of alot of flowers that have a very fragrant plesant smell, this is not one of them, it is extemely OVERPOWERING! Guess we all have different tastes!

[junglegalfla]

It must be genetic, my Mom told me back in the day it used to be an honor to be presented with a wrist corsage with gardenia. She had to take it off because it was making both her and her prom date nauseous    

I planted a full size ylang ylang and find it sickening too. I guess you need to be downwind a mile or so to get the faint sweet traces of it to enjoy it.  When my charles grimaldi brug and that are blooming at the same time it's a clash of the grandma perfumes   (no offense to Grandmas everywhere, I may be one someday myself LOL) Thank god the gardenia isn't continuous with blooming through out the summer/fall as well. Oddly enough, the only powerful scented flower I really like is night jasmine, it smells like grape kool-aid to me. I know some people can't stand it so yes gsn, we all have different tastes. Whoops bubba, didn't intend to go off topic so much

Standing offer to anyone in the area, if you dig it out this big one out, it's yours!  

[fastfeat]

Gardenia thunbergii is a great plant in its own right. It grows very well in SoCal (surviving on rainfall alone) and does well in Florida as well (though it's rare except as a rootstock). It is very tolerant of less-than-perfect soils.

Flowers are single, opening flat-faced, to about 4"/10cm across. The scent is very "clean," not sickly sweet. It is similar to 'Singapore White' Plumeria (Plumeria obtusa).

Expanding flower (from the Web):

[ariscott]

This is my favourite Gardenia.. not sure what it is exactly as I lost the tag... It is a shrub and has very soft fragrance. It flowers all the time!!

Regards, Ari

[junglegalfla]

That's a really cool flower Ari! I'd love to take a sniff of that one since you say it's got a soft fragrance. Anyone know the name?

[fastfeat]

Looks like what is sold here as G. augusta 'Vietnam'.

I suspect that 'Vietnam' is actually of hybrid origin, rather than "pure" G. augusta (G. jasminoides).

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

"The little Old Lady from Pasedena,

Has a pretty little flower bed of white Gardenias".

I just started growing Gardenias this past year.  There were several varieties at our Arboretum Plant Sale last year so I decided to try some.  I got a G.augusta "Aimee", a G. "Ilulani" (I haven't heard much about this one other than it has golden flowers, comes from Hawaii/Polynesia and is shaping up to be a fine small tree), a G. tubifera (which got set back in our January 37F cold, but looks to be doing fine now) and a "Vietnam" (which looks like it will be a large shrub small tree and has about 12 bloom flushes a year).  The Arboretum bought a rare Polynesian species, (I forget the name but not taitenensis), in November which looked great as a small tree (until the January cold spell kilt it).  The Arboretum also bought two taitenensis varieties, a single and a double (which seem to be languishing in our nursery with too much water).

The variety that surprised me was the plain old Home Depot variety (Miami Supreme?) that I put in for the Warden before Christmas.  It was blooming then and has never quit blooming all these last few months.  I was waiting for it to stop blooming to give it some training pruning cuts (5 bushes into a hedge) but it never stopped flowering.  Maybe next month?

Some Gardenias are wimps in cold weather, some do fine.  Some are groundcovers some are trees.  Some like it wet some like it drier.  But I think there is one thing they all have in common, they all are sucking insect magnets.  Get out the soap and the Imidacloprid.

Jeremiah