Thank you very very much for these beautiful pictures, particularly the magnolia fruits which I had never seen before. Amazing!
Jerry

These are not magnolias. I guess without the real things, the pictures of these southern plants are "close". Magnolia (tree) flowers are as large as peonies. Gardenia (bush) flowers are as small as roses and camellias. They are not related plants. Magnolia fruit is the size of a hand with large (red) beans in it. Gardenia has strong perfume. Its fruit is small and soft. You cannot miss it.

Several years ago I had the good fortune to visit the city of Hiroshima in Japan to visit the Atom Bomb memorial park and museum. There were gardenias planted everywhere as bedding plants -- mostly the single variety. They were also planted around the art museum. There were also Magnolia grandiflora trees used as street trees. It was amazingly beautiful and quite subtle and tasteful -- as one would expect from the Japanese. I would urge anyone to go there and see this magnificent monument to the hope of world peace.

Thank you for the correction. I do know the difference between magnolias and gardenias but sometimes my brain seems to forget what it knows and calls one by the name of the other. It is embarassing but I get over it. I do enjoy the pictures.
Jerry

I can understand why you are impressed by Magnolias and Gardenias during your trip to Hiroshima. The impression is in part shaped by the exotic culture. However, do you know we have a lot of these in the Deep South, too? Does anyone know if Charleston, SC has Gardenias as street bushes?

Shic,

You just had to post pictures of luscious, giant gardenias in the dead of winter, didn't you? Actually, even if bittersweet for us northern gardeners, it's still great to see examples of family plants in a different form or in the wild. Nice!

Jim

Well, the reason I was impressed is that Hiroshima (at least this part) looked like Paris. With the exception of Savannah, our Southern towns, in my experience, tend not to be landscaped or even planned very much. The only street tree I remember, offhand, are live oaks and willow oaks -- and the ubiquitous gaudy crepe myrtles. Of course there are magnificent specimens of Magnolia (and doubtless gardenia), mostly in private gardens and arboreta. Perhaps some Southerners will be glad to correct me if I am wrong.

You are right about the season, Jim. However, donÂt you think spring is coming? It is already February.

I learned two ways of keeping potted Gardenias in Northern winter: One, if you can keep the summer condition  day and night temperatures, light, and humidity, then simply continue your practice.

Two, if not, let it go into hibernation. Put it in a cold room around 45 degree with bright but indirect light. After winder, they will come back very quickly in full strength like roses.

Do you agree?

Schic2006, Thank you so much for that tip! Wish I had known it last fall, but I am certain that I will not forget it now. Would have saved me more than one headache.
Jerry

You all can check Plant reference book to find the origin of Gardenia. To understand the envornment of original habitat would help us to grow the plant. The plant has such fragrance that in early days people for the first time seeing the gardenia naturally would try very hard to bring it back to their home land to grow.

Warm and humid is great for the plant. Evening is milder naturally.They do not like windy air too much.

Alexander Garden, a physician in Charleston, South Carolina, first successfully cultivated these plants during the colonial days. The plant is named Gardenia after him. The weather of Charleston is ideal for these plants. Most named cultivars, however, have risen in cultivation. I, for example, ambitiously plan on cultivating fool-proof gardenias. My approach: I would first purchase large quantity and place them inside a dark, dry and heated room. Then I select only those surviving plants and breed them. Eventually, based on the theory of evolution, I am guaranteed to a new tough breed.

Gardenias are a "no fuss" plant here where I live. Really. You see lots of huge ones in the old abandoned neighborhoods. The ones that I planted have grown and bloomed with very little care (most everything else is not growing). The soil here is acid with very few nutrients, and the summers are very hot. Every summer there are at least 30 days in a row where the temperature gets 100+. It's hot April - October and cold (down to 15) for November - March. There's very little rain during the hot months.
This must be what gardenias like!
No wonder it's called a suicide plant for gardeners with nicer climates!
I think that you all must be fussing over them too much. Stop watering and feeding them. Watch what happens.

cweathersby,

Thank you for your insight. I think you are in Zone 7-8. However, I think the night temperature is more important than day temperature. Also, do you ever try to keep them as indoor potted plant? I bet you never run into any of the following situations:
(1) sooty mold, and other leaf spot diseases
{{gwi:782504}}
(2) bugs

No, I've never kept a gardenia in a pot. And I've never seen any of those problems! Not to say my gardenias don't get ugly and lose a few leaves every once and a while... right now the tips all look burnt up, maybe from the wind and the cold?
Night time temps here are smothering in the summer. It's the main reason we can't grow alot of the plants that will grow up north. It may get hot up there during the day but it cools off at night. Not here. It's hot 24 / 7 for months on end.
I don't really know why gardenias are so easy to grow here, I just know that they are. My best friend's house has gardenias bigger than a VW bug. Her great grandmother planted them. This girl has a thumb so black that she keeps plastic flowers in pots instead of real ones. She can't keep boxwoods alive. Those gardenias have thrived for 50 years with no care.

What are the current high and low temperatures (as in local news) of your region? I believe you feel it is too hot 24/7 throughout the summer. However, you stay indoors and you sleep. The most scientific way to measure these is to use an electronic thermometer which can keep track of the highest and lowest temperature, outside, during the last 24 hours.

I looked up the averages on weather.com. In January the avg high is 53 and low is 31. In July high is 94 and low is 71. These averages must include some really cool years though, because the utility where I work sends in weather and rainfall information to the national weather service and last August it was 100 for 30 days in a row, like I mentioned in the post above.
Yesterday's high was 61, the low was 36.
One random August day from the logs had high of 102 low of 78, which sounds about right considering the heat we've had over the last few years.

I am glad you have mild winter. In central NY, it can be -20 to 0 during this time period.

Thank you for starting this thread. Now I know what to do with the cuttings in little bottles in my cool utility room -- I'll start a Gardenia Forest!

For a short cut to quickly obtaining sturdy gardenias, find an old plant and take cuttings. I have a an old, nameless gardenia that has grown in the same spot for the past 44 years. It was a cutting from an even older plant.

Sooty mold (caused by the presence of white fly) and all kinds of little critters can be taken care of by spraying with soap solution (real soap, not detergent). For those who insist on chemicals, horticultural oil works.

Old folks used to give their gardenias a handful of Epson Salts in springtime. I'd recommend a soil sample these days, to really see what trace elements plants need to take care of chlorosis. I've not experienced root rot, probably because I grow in sandy soil.

Nell

Nell, I can tell you are very experienced. I made that "root rot" up. I heard Gardenia are more tolerant of flood. Those are dogwood seedlings in the "root rot" image. Do you grow potted Gardenias?

No potted Gardenias. I try to avoid anything perennial that requires growing in a pot except for a tender tropical or two like Night Blooming Cereus.

My native dogwood seedlings don't look like that photo, either.

Nell

In the north, we cannot let them out because it is too cold. Even Rhodies cannot survive constant -10 F and 5' of snow.

I'm jumping in on this thread.
I purchased 2 Gardenia augusta Grif's Select from Parkseed in the fall. It's been a milder winter than normal here and both seem to be taking a turn for the worst. It's claimed to be hardy down to zone 6. The leaves are turning brown, but not a dried out brown. Maybe this is normal, but it also claimed to be evergreen, so I am not sure.
Do they come back to life in the sping or is something wrong?

Hi, Joy, They do look kind of wan during the winter. The leaves tend to get kind of bronzy looking. Is that what you're seeing? You should see tender new growth in a month or two, in brightest green. Evergreen doesn't necessarily mean they look the same in spring and winter. Sometimes it means they look kind of ratty, they just don't fall off.

Maybe shic will give us the second part of the lesson, about new leaves and old leaves and where they go.

Nell

Yeah, I'd say ratty is a good defintion. They're not falling off, just ugly looking. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the input.

Joy,

Can you show some pictures of your plant. I cannot tell what is happening. When it is freezing, the plant needs much less water. If it is sitting in cold mud/pond, then there is a possibility of root rot ... it will turn into mud in the spring. You won't ever see eye-hurting bright-green new leaves, nor the coming blooms in the spring. Bless your heart.

Joy,
I have a Chuck Hayes Gardenia, live in Philly.
I love gardenias & I read that this one should survive our winters.
It made it thru its 2nd winter & is probably looking like your augusta (some brown leave etc.) It will probably bounce back soon. Mine looked great last summer, I was thrilled to see buds, but unfortunately they never opened.... fell off.....
Maybe I kept staring at it too much! lol
Hopefully this summer.... Nothing in the world can compare to that smell!
Good luck!