A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Gardenias

Hello all! This is my initial post and the reason I signed up to the site. I thought I would be a nice guy and buy my wife two beautiful gardenias for the back patio, as it is her favorite. Unfortunately, i am not a green thumb and neither is she. Anyway, i have two very nice 4-5 foot gardenias and they were flowering nicely when bought. Since then, the flowers have started turning brown and I wanted to put my best foot forward in keeping these plants producing flowers.
I live outside of philadelphia PA, so the temperature is in the mid 50's to low 70's now. In the next month, the temps will start creeping up to the 80's, and will remain there and into the 90's throughout the summer. Should I bring these plants inside, or leave them outdoors? My patio is full sunlight all day. Also, when the flowers start to die, should I pick them off, or actually cut the stem back? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I will answer you here, too.
Gardenias will react to changes and the ones you purchased were probably greenhouse grown. So the blooms dying off might be due to the move to your home and patio. The flowers don't last a very long time in the best of circumstances, a few days at most. Are there buds on your shrubs?
They will love your summer warmth. I live in Cal and mine do OK in triple digits. Outside should be good for them. I need to shade mine a bit from the brutal sunshine we get. But I've seen them in full sun in the milder parts of my state. Frost is not good though so they will need to overwinter indoors somewhere there.
Now someone may come along with a link that will give you more expert info shortly.
And welcome to the site.
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Gardenias also need plenty of water, especially if they are in full sun and/or hot areas. Never let them completely dry out.

Now that I've solved my 'mystery plant' problem I can enjoy reading all the posts here. What fun!

I have a Gardenia (a.k.a Cape Jasmine, Cape Jessamine) right outside my bedroom window. Of course, I live in the midsouth so it's in the ground, not in a container. The spot it's in doesn't get full sun until mid-afternoon. It seems to love this arrangement. This year it's blooming like crazy and smells glorious. You can smell it from all around the yard if the breeze is just right. And when I open my bedroom window and the breeze is coming from the west, a person could get drunk with that divine aroma.

Tina is quite correct in saying the blooms don't last long in the best of circumstances. Turning brown is something they do so don't be alarmed. My grandmother use to tell me not to touch the blooms because that hastens their turning brown. I'm not sure if that's true or just an old wive's tale but they turn brown in a few days regardless. I pull the dead blooms off just to make everything else look better. Whether it hastens other blooms, I can't say.

When spring sets in, I dose my Gardenia periodically with Miracle Gro all purpose plant food before it blooms and every few weeks after for the rest of the season. It doesn't seem to hurt it and may actually not be necessary to do as often as that. Gardenias seems to thrive in this area with no help at all. There is also a Miracle Gro for any blooming plant whether flower or shrub.

We seldom have more than a day or two of very cold (32 degrees or less) days in a row around here so I can't say how they would act otherwise. I've never had a problem with mine insofar as having to cover it or otherwise protect it. Now that I think of it, several years ago we had a very hard freeze and an ice storm (freaky weather) with freezing temps for over a week and it weathered it. Whether being partially under the roof overhang had anything to do with protecting is something I don't know. I would say that where you are you would definitely have to take them inside along with anything you have that's in a container.

Gardenias can be cut way back and come back without a problem. My neighbor cut hers back to a nub last winter and I thought surely it would die but it bushed out and is currently covered with blooms. Gardenias have a lovely shiny dark green foliage and are pretty even when not blooming so enjoy. :)