this is the heaviest bloomer of the ones i grow and also the earliest to bloom, usually early may.
it has shed most of this year's flowers but i have some pics from last year. this is 'daisy'.
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Gorgeous. So many plants hold a special moment in time. Gardenias holds many, many, many.

as you can see, my gardenias are just starting to bloom well. I live in the end of a cove so my spring is a couple of weeks late. the pictures I've seen posted here suggest that more people need to learn how to prune, and start cuttings from their gardenias. interested in the how to, (it's easy), let me know. I took 200+ cuttings from these two plants last year. Jim

Thought I'd throw in a pic of some of the cuttings. Cuttings taken last november. Jim

jim is right about gardenias being ridiculously easy to root.
i have had success just sticking a small branch into moist ground but it is easier to control the moisture by doing as his picture shows using containers.
i cut some flowers from my shrub of 'mystery' and gave them to our secretary. she left them in the vase for a couple of months. the leaves never yellowed or dropped and i could not believe the extensive root system that had developed!
as for pruning, i don't mind if their habit is not symetrical or formal. a lax form appeals to me and suits my garden style. i have also noticed that not all of the cultivars have the same natural form. 'august beauty' seems stiffly upright when compared to the more rounded and open form of 'mystery'.

Smell-O-Vision has officially kicked in! "Daisy " is lovely, Jeff. Purple, I know you're loving yours.

Hey Jeff. I don't root the cuttings in those 6" pots , I root them over winter in the greenhouse and it would be hard to keep the humidity up for them, as well as take up too much space. I started 80 in this box last year. Jim

ah... i see, jim. i should have figured you used a method like that when propagating so many of them. a local friend with an extensive collection of hydrangeas uses that same method to propagate his hydrangea cuttings. he has promised me two of those cultivars later as they get rooted: 'sabrina' and 'shamrock' (a.k.a. 'purple tiers')
looks like your gardenia shrub has exploded into bloom since your first picture post! don't you want to break out the cushions for the bench and sit there with the branches around you and just breathe deeply? :-)
gardenia 'mystery' is just coming into flower for me. i will post a pic of it tomorrow.

a photo of the flower of gardenia 'mystery'.
this one is recovering from damage by a tree limb that fell on it so i did not take a photo of the entire shrub as it is self-conscious of its appearance right now. ;-)
the flowers are 6" wide, the leaves are 7" long and very glossy while the fragrance is very strong, much more so than that of the others i grow with smaller flowers.
maybe size matters? :-)

speculating that it may not be as cold-hardy as some other cultivars.

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Jeff, you sure you shouldn't call that thing Bonds?. I didn't know gardenia growth hormone (GGH) was available. Seriously, that bloom is huge. I hope you took advantage of the limb incident to take some cuttings,I know they'd be popular at a plant swap.Hint, Hint, Mine have a similar bloom but more in the 3" range