Gardenia Bush

What does an over 7' high Gardenia bush look like in May! It is putting out new sprouts with buds just waiting for the right time to bloom. This is an amazing bush and one with some great and varied history.

I once had 3 gardenia bushes down the left side of my drive way in between my home and my neighbors. They were small in 1976 but bloomed every year about this time. The ice storm of 1983 changed everything.

I did not know that these a almost tropical in nature and cannot take extended sub freezing weather. The ice storm we had submitted us to temperatures at or below zero for several days and the bushes were covered with ice that January. I did not know until spring, how bad the damage was.

The bushes did not come out in the spring, not at all. All I had was dry sticks where the limbs of the bush used to be. I looked closely at all 3 of my bushes and only one, the one I have today, showed any green around the base of the plant.

I called a local nursery and he said to cut all the bushes back until I found green or live stems. Two of the bushes did not make it at all. But the one, that one, began to put out new sprouts that spring of 1983 if only to be a foot or so off the ground that year. I nurished the plant, turning the soil around the base and added potting soil and covered with pine straw.

The next few years it grew like nothing else I had in my yard. I guess it knew it was loved and we all missed the spring gardenia blooms to the man. Three or four years later, the bush granted our wish and out came the beautiful and sweet smelling blooms. I remember working customers and cutting some blooms and putting these in a wet paper towel and placing them in the floor board of my company car. My buyers secretaries all got a nice personal flower to put in vase on their desk and the offices smelled just great.

The one bush survived another ice storm of 1993 after Jeff covered the bush with plastic during the night and left it open for the sun during the day. It knew it was loved and continued to thrive and produce the most beautiful of bloom each succeeding year.

It is now almost 25 years since it was cut down almost to the ground. It is over 7 feet tall and walkers and joggers take blooms with them each spring. It is funny as I know she or he has off spring now growing in someone's yard as we speak. I have done the same and now have 3 new plants ready to put in soil that have been growing in my kitchen window since last year.

I have a second bush now that is a hybrid and it is planted by the mailbox. I now have one gardenia bush that is called a perpetual that blooms several times during the summer. It is only a year old and it will be two or three years before maturity and I am granted it's blooms to grace my yard.

You see Jeff loves anything that blooms and adds color and fragrance to my life and my home. I have put out 3 hydrangia's and hopefully these will thrive on the other side and at the top of my driveway. I know they like some sun but not a full sun, so they are in partial shade and where they will get plenty oof water. These too will add color to the yard at 3281. I hope my joggers and walker will enjoy these too!...Jeff