Gardenia is a lovely shrub from South China growing as tall as 8 feet, but usually smaller. Gardenias are evergreens with compact stems and dark green leaves when properly planted and properly fertilized. As you can see, the pure white flowers are gorgeous, rose-like at their peak of appearance.
Flowers continue to open, getting flatter , but still very nice to see.
May. They have been traditional corsage flowers for many years. Floridians like to pick flowers and float them in shallow bowls indoors. Of course, the flower fragrance of the gardenia is also a major attraction. They have a very sweet smell like some jasmine flowers, hence the Latin name jasminoides. Gardenia is happy in southern zone 8, all of zone 9 as well as South Florida's zone 10.