These will grow in our area!

Mehitabel where are you? Are you listening?

Happy spring to everybody!
Katyajini

1. You've only gotten it through one winter

2. You protected it.

Hardy is usually taken to mean overwintering indefinitely, without protection.

I think the report was meant to indicate if we, here in zone 6, can grow a gardenia AT ALL in the ground outside.

On the other hand I didn't know that the technical definition of being hardy meant that the plant has to survive WITHOUT winter protection. Thanks.

One other experience of mine has been that if a plant makes it through the first winter it has much better chances the subsequent winters. But my experience is pretty limited.

Katyajini

Now you've done it! I've been thinking about a hardy gardenia as an indoor/outdoor plant, brought in only for a limited time during the winter, and you're leading the charge!

Are there any buds yet?

Ron B., you're point's well taken that one winter does not "hardy" make, but let's not trash Katyajini's accomplishment -- in my book, a winter survived is a summer with fragrance -- 'nuff said.

Jim

And while single-season survival gives limited information, it is also true in many cases that established plants overwinter more readily in succeeding years.

Thanks for the info and congratulations.

Here near DC, Chuck has made it through three z7A winters (fairly mild). I spray it with Wiltpruf each fall, but that's the only protection.

Kleim's Hardy is another one to try (to me, it smells even better than Chuck)...

When I found out it was going to snow I put a tomato cage
around it & wrapped a plastic trash bag around the cage.
After we had a foot or so of snow, I realized that was probably a dumd idea (with the plastic!)
Luckily Chuck survived i

I did look earlier this summer, but had no luck finding them available. I considered K. Hardy, and may have to do that one instead.

~Chills

Anyway, so they've been in the ground for 4 or 5 weeks and
are about two feet above the ground in height (bought three of them).

They're planted in the same spots as my previous "regular"
non-hardy varieties where the longest one lasted 3
years (we had a really cold winter with a long cold spell
of about 20 degrees a couple years ago that took out the remainders).
Nursery I had bought previous ones "joked"
about how I was buying the Gardenias as annuals. :-(

pH measures a bit marginal (6) using the colored water vial sort
of hand-wavy measurement. I think 5.5 is supposed
to be the nominal, but I think 6 is close enough (is it?).
I had acidified it quite a bit several years ago, but it's
next to the house's concrete foundation that's rumored to
make things go in an alkaline direction over time. I put
a tiny bit of sulphur into it for long term acidification when I re-rototilled it up for these three (using a
Mantis tiller).

Got my fingers crossed both for the health of the plants
as well as hoping for mild winters (typically a high of 50
and permanent drizzling).

In the month or so they've been in the ground, they've
not minded too much. They've all started to generate
quite a lot of buds, of which they had none when
purchased.

I attached a link to a photo of them about a week or
two ago. Still need to put down some stuff on the
surface, but was waiting for the first generation of
weeds to come up so I can get rid of them easier
before covering it up. I had tilled some grass and
weeds here (it was being saved for when I finally found
some Chuck Hayes plants!).

With fingers crossed in Oregon...

Mike

Best wishes,

Molineux (the rose enabler)

thanks!