Gardenias are forming flower buds now for early summer bloom. Might be best to wait until after flowering to prune. You could use a few stakes in the meantime to prop them up.

Hey Esh -- Would it HURT them to prune now? This variety blooms and reblooms from spring through the fall.

If it won't hurt the plant in any major way, I'd almost like to go ahead and do it and get the plant growing right.

Otherwise, I'll go get my stakes out! ;)

No, would not hurt at all, you just sacrifice flowers that's all.

I think your gardenia variety is 'August Beauty' instead of 'Autumn Beauty.' 'August Beauty' is a gardenia variety that is widely sold in the garden centers of the big box retailers. We have an 'August Beauty' gardenia; and I think it is the nature of this plant to have a rather willowy habit of growth, with a tendency to weep. What you are observing in your plants may, therefore, be a natural phenomenon of their growth. I would certainly hate to whack on this variety, and subsequently lose its blooms, only to watch it regrow in its willowy, weepy form.

I think the 'Chuck Hayes' variety of gardenia may have a stockier growth habit than 'August Beauty.'