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| Photo Credit: Gardener’s Confidence Collection® |
| The single, star-shaped blooms of Heaven Scent™ create a stellar constellation against the dark green, lustrous foliage throughout summer. | It’s interesting how fragrance has the ability to invoke favorite memories. Whether it’s the smell of home-baked apple pie that returns you to childhood or the scent of antique roses that whisks you off to your grandmother’s garden, certain smells can take you back in time. Maybe this is why the intoxicating fragrance and evergreen beauty of gardenias have made them a favorite in home gardens. Of course, there are other reasons to grow this stunning plant in your landscape. Besides their amazing fragrance, gardenias offer beautiful blooms from spring until fall; rich, evergreen foliage; and colorful seedpods
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| Photo Credit: Gardener’s Confidence Collection® |
| Wait to prune your gardenias until after they’ve finished flowering for the season. | in winter, creating year-round interest to your outdoor living spaces. Their various sizes also make them ideal for just about any garden situation – from large planting beds to small patio containers. Gardenias make a wonderful cutflower to enjoy inside the home, too. Placed in a vase or floating in a bowl, the blooms emit their wonderful fragrance throughout a room, bringing the outside in. Gardenias are hardy to warm tropical and subtropical climates (and sometimes as far north as USDA hardiness Zone 7). But even home gardeners in colder temperate zones can enjoy these blooming beauties by growing them in containers during the warm months, then overwintering them in sunny indoor locations. (Some cold-hardy varieties are also available for the garden.) No matter how they’re enjoyed, gardenias are a great plant for soothing the senses!
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| Photo Credit: Gardener’s Confidence Collection® |
| Even a small vase or bowl of cut gardenias can fill a room with amazing fragrance! | The many different forms of gardenias lend themselves to unlimited uses in the landscape. The dwarf gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides ‘Radicans’) is a small-leaved, almost creeping version of the species. The small, lustrous evergreen foliage coupled with double, fragrant 2-inch flowers from late spring until fall make it the perfect pick for mass plantings, as a groundcover or for containers on a patio. This little beauty also comes in a variegated form with a creamy-white leaf margin. Both forms grow 6-12 inches high and 2-3 feet wide.
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| Warnings |
- When cutting gardenia flowers to bring indoors, be mindful of touching the blooms. Sometimes the oils from your hands can cause them to turn brown quickly. (A little spritz of water every now and then will prolong their beauty indoors.)
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| Facts |
- Gardenias are best grown in full sun but will tolerate partial shade. They prefer moist, well-drained, acidic soil. When planting, condition the soil with plenty of organic matter. Mulch after planting to maintain moisture.
- Gardenias are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania. The Chinese have long appreciated the gardenia, as they have cultivated it for more than 1,000 years. The genus was discovered by Westerners in the 18th century and was named by Carl Linnaeus for the Scottish naturalist, Alexander Garden (1730-1791).
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| Tips |
- Compact gardenia varieties look great in containers with perennials and annuals. An interesting combination to consider is a “ white garden.” Choose striking plants like white angelonia, asparagus fern, white gomphrena, white zinnia, licorice plant and carex grass to complement gardenia’s dark green foliage and beautiful white flowers. Remember to place the container where you can enjoy the wonderful fragrance!
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| Resources |
- The Heaven Scent™ Gardenia is developed by world-renowned horticulturist and breeder, Dr. Michael A. Dirr. With a tight, upright form and extremely floriferous blooms from late spring through summer, it’s the perfect addition to small landscapes. For more information, visit the Gardener’s Confidence Collection® Website.
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