PlantFiles: Thunberg's Gardenia, Starry Gardenia
Gardenia thunbergia

I have one of these in my (San Diego, CA coastal area) backyard, next to our deck. It only blooms when the weather really warms up - say high 70's-80's and the humidity rises. It took it 5 years to produce a single beautiful flower. Now at 9 years, it blooms a lot, smells fabulous and is simply gorgeous when properly pruned. So glad I didn't 'edit' it out of the garden.

I have never grown this plant, but it is used as rootstock for other gardenias grown for the sandy soils of Florida. This root stock is resistant to root knot nematodes which do in most gardenias on their own roots.

The fragrant flowers are large with long tubes and spreading petals. I have seen this plant blooming at Los Angeles Arboretum (next to the waterfall) and at Quail Botanic Garden at the stairs behind the open lawn. The old Monrovia Growers grounds in Southern California had a standard shaped tree on the north side of the office house, but I never saw that one in bloom. South Coast Botanic Garden also has a plant with shrubby growth down to the ground. My favorite locations are at LAA and QBG as they are next to stairs and can be viewed from above and below.

I have seen one of these in a botanical garden several differnet times of the year, and yet to see it flower... but has bizarre, huge fruits (for a Gardenia) so it probably flowered before these formed.

Although this plant appears healthy, I have yet to have it bloom in the three years it has been in my garden.