Texas Gardening: Mystery preditor on my Gardenias, 2 by fancyflea

fancyflea wrote:
For the life of me I can't figure this one out. I had a Gardenia(actually 2) that were shaped like a full tree. This happened to it in a matter of 2 days. The flowers are gone and the small branches look like they have been pruned. It is on my back porch which is enclosed with a railing and gate. It also has gotton my Passiflora twice. Nothing left of the plant except 3 stubs. The stubs were about 6 inches tall and overnight eaten to the soil.