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Most floriferous gardenia?

Dar Sunset Zone 18
14 years ago

I am stuck with a gardenia that looks really healthy and has been branching out nicely. But the darn thing is without flowers for too long and I cant stand that. It bloom for about a month when I got it and that was it.

Can anyone help point me towards a cultivar that produces flowers all year round? I don't mind what the flower looks like if its single or not, but I do care for fragrance of course.

Comments (4)

  • buyorsell888
    14 years ago

    To the best of my knowledge, they will all bloom for many months if the growing conditions are right. They are one of the most difficult shrubs to get to bloom indoors.

  • blutayle
    14 years ago

    Other than the first flush in April or May, I have had luck with Aimee Yashioki 'First Love'. This variety seems to give flowers on and off all summer and into the fall as compared to other varieties which are pretty much finished by June. Granted I am in Florida, but culture sheets show it needs 60-65 deg nights to form buds. Anyone knows a florida summer night does not get down below 80deg for months and it still blooms. Indoors, a bit more challenging without the humidity and constant threat for spider mites, but it might work. And flowers are some of the largest at 5" across.

  • Dar Sunset Zone 18
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Funny you should mention that, because First Love is exactly what I am talking about. But here's the kicker, just a few days ago, I noticed that a bud popped out on the end of one of the branches. Those gardenias sure do know when we are talking about them! lol

    Now really, I figure that my problem may just be that it was in the shade too much. In fact its in the shade all day long. The nodes are like 4 inches apart, way different than this 'Veitchii' I had that had a more compact form (that one recently bit the dust). I keep a lot of my plants in the shade, since it is almost desert-like environment. What bugs me is that I often go to this business building that has mature (but sickly-looking) gardenias blooming their hears off in full shade! Must be a more shade-tolerant variety.

    I tested out 'Veitchii' (which was growing in semi-shade) to see if it can handle the heat by placing it in full sun. One week later and the plant was toasted brown, no hope for regrowth at all.

  • blutayle
    14 years ago

    I had two 5ft standard non-grafted First Love trees I picked up at Lowes and had on either side of my garage door. They got full sun until about 11am then shade by the building the rest of the day. Summer sun in the sunbelt is a little too extreme for these plants but they will adapt, just don't always look that good. Most of the times the culture tags show a light requirement that is more in line with higher latitude growing areas it is not one tag covers all, the mistake most people make. I would not be planting impatients even in partial sun in June in Tampa...but they are for sale in Lowes and the tag says partial sun...so just experiment. These gardenias once they latch onto a spot they are happy with they just put on a show. The nodes on First Love are not nearly as compact as other varieties but also have some of the deepest green leaves along with mystery. Good luck with your gardenias....I could not live without at least one.

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