PlantFiles: Gardenia, Cape Jasmine, Gandharaj
Gardenia jasminoides 'Veitchii'

Deliciously fragrant double gardenia. Veitchii flourishes in Ohio as a potted patio plant. Give her an occasional watering with old coffee, feed her with fish extract once a month, keep her moist, not soaked, and keep her shaded from the afternoon sun; she'll reward you with scrumptious perfumed blossoms you'll be able to smell at ten feet. I love this gardenia.

After I planted my 4 gardenias last year they started dying. Leaves were turning yellow and eventually would fall off. All of the buds that they had coming out of the nursery browned at the tips and fell off as well. They looked so bad I thought of getting rid of them. After searching for a remedy I discovered coffee. Every 2 weeks I make a pot of coffee and I divide it equally between them. Apparently my soil was not acidic enough for them. After a few weeks they plumped up. The leaves are luscious green and look very healthy. About 2-3 weeks ago they started blooming. There are about 3-5 flowers on each gardenia at a given time with plenty more buds waiting to open up. I don't know if this is normal but I can enjoy the lovely scent longer this way. Gardenias are very addictive.

Zone 8B
My Gardenia has plump blooms ready to open.

So far this year, April 2006, I've not had scale on leaves! Leaves are not green enough. Must add iron sulphate.

This is one of my favorites, from way back.
Happy, successful gardening!

I purchased this 3' X 3' plant last year (04) at the end of July. It was in a 24" pot, several years old, full of buds, at a home, near a swimming pool, on concrete, getting full west sun from mid day to evening, in the Dallas Texas area the owner wintered her plants in a partial buliding with tarp on two sides and a small heater; not enough heat for banannas to form fruit but just enough to keep tropicals alive but semi-dormant). 2004 was an unusually cool summer for our area with only a couple of days reaching above 100 F versus the usual 30+ days above 100. We also had loads of rain in 2004. At my house I immediatly placed it in full sun, all day, near my pool, on concrete. It didn't suffer any bud drop and continued to bloom and produce blooms until I moved it into my greenhouse in early December (hard cold was, fortunatly, late coming in 04 also and I didn't get my green house fully completed until late December). I kept the greenhouse temps at night above 60 F all winter and there were many days that the temps got above 90 F during the day due to our intense sunshine even on cool or cold days. Air circulation with fans was a must. Humidity in the gh, all winter, rarely fell below 90%. It continued to put on buds and bloom throughout the winter although reduced in numbers probably because of reduced amount of sunlight (gh insulated by clear bubble pool cover that does reduce light considerably) and reduced hours of light (the greenhouse is on NE side of house shaded by brick wall part of a.m. and house after about 2:00 p.m.

Due to extensive business travel I couldn't get the plants out of the greenhouse until mid June. For two months this fabulous plant endured many days where the temps were above 110 F frequently reaching 125 F during most days in June. I did have a mister going at night about 15' from the plant and the temps at night usually fell into the low to mid 80's. Buds continued to form despite the extreme heat and reduced daytime humidity, at a reduced rate though, and a few opened before I finally got it moved outside to the deck where it receives full sun ALL day starting at about 10 a.m.. It dropped most buds after the move but is now filling back up with very new buds (early July). A few of the older buds that are left are starting to open. We have had a pretty hot spring and summer so far with most days in the 90's and many at or near 100.

This plant produces buds in extreme heat unlike many gardenias!!!

This summer has been almost drought like compared to 04 but there have been some days with high humidity. I usually run a mister near the plant, during the night, and mid day to late afternoon (I started this for rehabilitation of a huge potted, abused fern but now realize that Mr. Gardenia loves the humidity and cooling too.) Possibly this may help in bud formation and retention but I didn't mist it during the summer last year. It is also quite windy at my place and "Mr." takes it in stride.

I haven't pruned it at all as it has been in bud continuously but hope to do it some time before next year as it is quite large now, 4' X 4' and increasing in size almost before my eyes (but pretty full and not "leggy").

I feel very fortunate to have happened on this beauty and will certainly be on the lookout for more like it.

I don't think it could take our winter temps, especially if temps reach into the teens a few nights and 20's as many nights did in early 05. At least I wouldn't chance it.

BTW.. I did have a bout with red spider mites in the big greenhouse during the winter. During the infestation Gardenia did drop more leaves than usual. I first tried control with water sprays, oil soaps, and beneficial insects but after all my tropical hibiscus dropped ALL their leaves and buds for the third time I had to resort to neem, which I used on all plants without any problems even to "sensitive" plants. Gardenia was probably the least affected plant out of about a hundred but did probably lose some buds due to the infestation.

I don't think you can go "wrong" with this wonder plant. Follow the "rules", pay close attention to its likes and dislikes, and more than likely it will reward you with beautiful green and many delicous flowers.


Geekgranny, SW of Dallas in the hills (Cedar Hill .. on top of the hill)


ADDED July 20, 2005
(Last year plant was closer to pool, about 10 ft) so probably benefited from added humidity. This year it is about 30 ft from pool.)
Mr. G is still doing fabulous. Most days are in the upper 90's F. I'm continuing to run misters (2 on opposite sides each about 4-5 ft from plant) starting around noon each day and ending about midnight most days. We have had quite a bit of rain past 3 weeks; more than usual and many afternoon showers that the plants seem to like as it does cool off the roots. I would prefer to start misters earlier in a.m. but some new planters (shade plants) under the eave, that get mostly full sun from 10 a.m. untill noon get too much water collection on their tender leaves (sun/water damange).
Nights have been relativly cool for July in my part of Texas and the deck is quite "moist" after evening watering so Mr. seems to be okay. If we return to "normal" for the remainder of July and August with nights staying above 90 I'll start using the misters at night again turning off at 7 a.m. or so then on again around noon.
The original owner of Mr. G was here last week and saw it for first time since summer 04, a year ago. She was pretty amazed at how much it had grown, retaining its fullness too. She said that she pruned it back severely in early 04 so I'm thinking I'll do a major pruning this winter when it gets acclimated to winter greenhouse.
BTW.. last week I purchased a baby in a 3 gal pot at HD. I'm thinking about getting several more to try various growing conditions, in planters and in ground. Will report as time goes by.
geekgranny

I did it! After years of admiring the gardenia, buying with the resolve of MAKING it live, I finally did it! I planted one into the ground, in full sun with partial shade. It is only shaded during the very heat of the afternoon by a crepe myrtle's shadow. Not only did it live, thrive, put on new leaves and branches, but it's blooming nonstop!! I'm thrilled. =)

This type of gardenia grows very well in Florida in full sun.The only problem I had was black sotty mold ,which I washed off after several days with high pressure water.The flowers on my plant which is about 2' high where 25. The flowers average 3 to 4" in diameter

Though the flowers are a bit smaller than other cultivars, 'Veitchii' makes up for it with a profusion of flowers. In central Florida, it is recommended that only grafted specimens be grown. They are likely to get nematodes from the soil if they are on their own roots.

Gardenias are not recommended for my area of the country - coastal Southern California - because we do not get enough heat. However, I have Gardenia Veitchii growing on Gardenia Thunbergia root stock, and they have even opened one or two blooms in December - outside. In May, the gardenias averaged 20+ open blooms per 16 inch tall plant. I chose the grafted version because the Thunbergia root stock is better able to take up iron from the soil. This is especially important in cooler climates because gardenias have a harder time taking up iron when its roots are cool. This is not to say that I have not had to add supplemental iron, because I have. Ferrous Sulfate seemed to work well for me, it adds iron plus it helps acidify the soil which the gardenias appreciate.

First the nursery said to plant the gardenias on the west side. I did, and they died. Then they said OH NO, to plant on the north side. I did, and they're barely growing. Slow to do anything, but healthy. Only get a few flowers, because they're not in the sun 8 months of they year, and when they do get sun it is only for 2-3 hours a day.

The last gardenia, I kept indoors. It is doing GREAT!!! I keep it in a south facing window with sheer curtain panels to protect it from the direct sunlight, and keep the soil moist. I open the window and/or turn on the fan to give it a sense of a breeze, and it's happy. Happier -- I think -- than those in the north.