Lovely gardenias! They look very vibrant. I know what you mean, I currentl have a gardenia indoors that I purchased 3 months ago and it only set several blooms and dropped many buds. I don't want to grow it in my balcony because it gets real hot and always prone to all kinds of insect attacks. Anyway, I think youre doing a good job.

I LOVE gardenias! My sister grew them in VA Beach.
I live in Philly & have a Chuck Hayes Gardenia in the back yard. It is taking over the yard, but I love it. It bloomed last Friday & is full of flowers today! It is a few years old now.

Skippy05, how long have you had chuck hayes, does the plant lose all leaves in winter and come back giving new growth in spring? I had chuck hayes at one time and that I neglected for a while and it died.

Congratulations! They all look very lovely! :D I love gardenia and have a giant one (about 9ft tall) in the backyard). I'm not so sure about the "hardy" claims though. I'm in zone 8a and had the jubilation variety before. When the Texas winter storm hit, it was the first to wither away... Last year, when Texas had record breaking snow storm, it severely damamged my giant Gardenia. :( Several branches were dead, and the lower trunks, the barks were broken. I was so heartbreaking. When spring came, I tried my best to help the tree to regrow, so far it's doing great, with new branches and leaves forming, though I'm not expecting much bloom today.

What I'm trying to say it despite what the plant might clain to be hardy, you still might want to take protection plans when the weather gets cold. It's always better to be safe than seeing our beloved plant suffer. :)

I'm growing a container gardenia for the first time this year, so far it's doing well in the pot. :)

Interesting post. I did not know there were so many hardy gardenia cultivars outside of Kleim's and Chuck. I am in Northern VA with a first-season Chuck Hayes blooming well. However, the blooms are not very fragrant, which has thrown me for a loop. The ones I have smelled in greenhouses were mesmerizing. These are much milder. Other than that, it looks great and is healthy.

We've had our share of snow and cold weather the past few years here in Northern VA, but I don't think we have gotten below 5 degrees, so those gardenias haven't experienced a true zone 7a yet. Zones refer to temp and nothing else.

Mistacott, If you read online on the hardy gardenia's that I have posted above, all of them say they are hardy to zone7. I have frostproof that I did not post the pic that has been in ground since 2009, it loses lot of leaves every winter but comes back with full growth in spring and blooms a lot in Aug/Sep through November. The flowers are fragrant and pretty in structure. I do agree that chuck hayes is not that fragrant as kleim's hardy and other hardy varieties. I am trying these new varieties this year and see if they survive through winters.

Crown Jewel is a cross between Kleim's and Chuck created in Chatham County, NC. Interesting. tidbit.

This year updates with hardy gardenia's in ground. I am very happy with all gardenia's that i planted outside in groupd last year. They continued to bloom since May and are still blooming.
Gardenia frost proof

Gardenia crown jewel

Gardenia crown jewel

collected some gardenias for display and fragrance indoors

gardenia crownprince