Gardenia, Cape Jasmine, Gandharaj 'Frostproof'

I find this plant prone to nematodes and root diseases, giving them a lifespan of 2 to 3 years.

Bloomed exceptionally well for me this year.
Started blooming around late June, peaked in August and still threw out some bloom i...Read Moren November.
This Gardenia is exposed to about 7-8 hours of direct sun during the summer time and has no burns here in Portland, Oregon.
Easy to root from cutting also.

The Frostproof Gardenia does pretty well in my Zone 7A garden in Petersburg, Virginia. I bought a one-gallon pot of Frostproof about fi...Read Moreve years ago, and found that there were four little plants in the pot. I planted a couple of them (and gave the others away), and the one that gets more direct sun grew faster and blooms more than the one in the shade. The leaves are narrower than that of most gardenias, and so less lush, but still pretty. The blossoms are full and fragrant. The two gardenias managed through our winters fine until this last winter, 2015, when it got unusually cold, and they both got frost-burned. The larger gardenia in the sunnier location was more exposed and burned worse. The foliage has fully recovered, but there have been almost no blossoms this season. This next winter, I will take greater precautions if the temperatures drop below twenty degrees.

This seems easy to grow--it's my first and only gardenia and I've had it for a couple years. I have it outside, in full sun on the south ...Read Moreside of my house in my naturally extremely sandy soil. It gets supplemental watering only during severe droughts--I basically don't mess with it other than raking in one "dose" of Hollytone around it in the spring. It seems to have a fairly short flowering period, but it is a handsome evergreen shrub that smells like heaven when it does bloom. I am planning on taking cuttings this spring to spread more of this plant around my yard.