Gardenia<\/em> jasminoides<\/i>) in a U.S. zone 6 garden was a dream. Today, hardy gardenias are a safe bet\u00a0in zone 7 or in zone 6 in a protected area of the garden, away from wintry winds. Otherwise,\u00a0gardenias make good\u00a0houseplants.<\/p>\nPure white fragrant flowers\u00a0cover this lovely evergreen shrub in early\u00a0summer. Single pinwheel shaped flowers are most\u00a0common, but semi-double and double flowering types are also available. Cultivars vary in flower fragrance from a hint to highly scented.<\/p>\n
Gardenias grow 2 – 6 feet tall and 3 – 6 feet wide, depending on cultivar and desired\u00a0size after pruning. Gardenia care is similar to that\u00a0of rhododendron or camellia. Provide morning sun and afternoon shade or in full day dappled sunlight. Locate gardenias near a home entry door, patio or deck, where you and your\u00a0guests\u00a0may fully enjoy their\u00a0fragrance.<\/p>\n
Whether planted in a container or\u00a0garden bed, gardenias require moist, well-drained, acidic medium (soil) that contains lots of organic matter. Gardenias need watering\u00a0when rainfall is less than an inch per week. Fertilize plant(s) every spring with an acidic type\u00a0fertilizer\u00a0such as water-soluble Miracle-Gro\u2122 or Espoma Hollytone\u2122.<\/p>\n
Yellowing leaves indicates any of three possible problems. If it is the bottom foliage turning yellow, it could be under- or over-watering. If the upper leaves show interveinal chlorosis (yellowing), your gardenia plant needs an iron supplement or\u00a0the soil\u00a0is not be acidic enough.\u00a0Gardenias are subject to a number of pests which can be managed using insecticidal soap.<\/p>\n
\u2018Frost Proof\u2019 and \u2018Daisy\u2019 are two that I have trialed in my zone 6 garden. The harsh winter of 2013-14 killed both varieties to the ground. By late June both cultivars had sprung back\u00a0to life from the crown\u00a0but did not bloom. A year later both cultivars were dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The longer you garden,\u00a0many plant species keep improving, including their winter hardiness. A few years ago, growing gardenias (Gardenia jasminoides) in a U.S. zone 6 garden was a dream. Today, hardy gardenias are a safe bet\u00a0in zone 7 or in zone 6 in a protected area of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,665,1012,1119,551,843,1060,601,777,1210,630,705,7,113,455,162,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7743"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7752,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7743\/revisions\/7752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Gaardenia](\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Gardenia-clipped-at-NC-restaurant-7.jpg\")
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