One more. Sad just looking at it.

Hi lkg1323 , sorry to hear about your gardenia :( to me they look like Gardenia jasminoides 'Kleim's Hardy which although the name suggests they are fully hardy I have my doubts! I have had this variety in the past planted in the ground over here in the UK and it has been killed by are winters and when you start seeing things like "it will appreciate some winter protection" from the garden centre websites over here selling it! then that kind of gives it away.
I do still have this one but grown in a pot so I can moved it to a cool, frost-free position if the temp really drop to below freezing.
You could try giving them some protection by covering them in straw or some kind of fleece, or as you have more then one dig one up repot it and move it to a frost free location but be warned this could shock a already stressed plant.
Also keep a eye out for Crown Jewel Gardenia I have two of these beauties as so far they have not suffered any ill effects from the frost over here supposed to be hardy to at least USDA Zone 6 to 10
Hope that is some help and I am sure some of the other friendly fragrant plant lovers will help out if they can :)

Do you mean to tell me with all this below 0 weather it has made it this far??????????

Now that in itself is an extreme miracle..I always thought cold hard meant a few nights below freezing and short lived at that..

If this is that hardy to withstand the extreme cold winters here, then I am going to find a way to protect them like under a bucket or wrapped in burlap...But I always thought DORMANT plants of any kind are treated this way.
I always thought that anything can be killed off up here that does not go dormant?

I can't wait to see what others have to say...

MIke

I have 3 Crown Jewel plants and they look in similar condition as your gardenias. I think they'll come back, unless we get worse weather. Also have a Chuck Hayes (one of the parents of Crown Jewel) and it looks pretty bad.

restoner, do you have any sort of protection on them?

They keep calling for more snow/ice where I'm at and I'm not hopeful at all. Really very sad about it, they were rather expensive and I must admit I've really fallen in love with them.

Friday I put a burlap barrier up around them and threw some leaves in. Not sure if that will do anything at all. With all the snow and ice storms I'm kind of at a loss what to do anymore. Guess there's not much I can do... :(

lkg,
You can't do anything about the extreme cold.
I live in SC and we got down to 8 degrees!
I don't see any mulch around it though.
You have to mulch that real good. It's not dead yet.
It's hanging in there for you.
I would buy a big bag of mulch and put it all around the bottom of the plant nice and thick.
It might make it, you never know.
I can't believe these temps, my sweet olives have cold
damage too.

Added some mulch! Thanks all! Keeping my fingers crossed.

This post was edited by lkg1323 on Tue, Feb 11, 14 at 19:35

Here in Va my Kliems Hardy,Crown Jewel,Chuck Hayes all look awful. That what zero will do. Such a brutal winter here with more snow coming.

@lkg1323, the only plant that I protected this year was my Osmanthus fragrans 'Fudingzhu'. It's wrapped in burlap, but I hate to imagine what it looks like. The gardenias were minimally affected by the last few winters, so I didn't think I needed to do anything. Cinnamomum chekiangensis is also looking unhappy (probably dead) but my Pittosporum tobira (Korean form) seems fine. Seems kind of hit or miss.

As everyone knows this past winter was crazy! My gardenias which I planted last year spring were doing well until now. Someone told me that they were dead so I should have them replaced. I was thinking about waiting a few weeks (2 weeks) to see if there will be new growth. What do you all think?

Sonia, it looks pretty brown. However, what I do is scratch the bark at the base of the plant to see if there is any green in the cambium layer. If not, most likely it will not regrow.

I will try that ladylotus. Thanks