Golden Magic Gardenia. We acquired our original plants of this cultivar from South Africa. It is one of the largest and most vigorous Gardenias that I have ever seen. The 5-6" flowers open white, but almost immediately turn a medium yellow. Because of its vigor, I think that it can easily get to 6-8'. Professor Fred Thode at Clemson always admonished his students that we should site Gardenias in the landscape so that they don't get early morning sun. This is because when they are heavily frozen on a cold winter morning, if sun immediately strikes them, it appears that they are thawed so rapidly, that it causes a rupturing of the cells of the leaf. Whether or not this is what actually happens, it is very obvious that there is far more cold damage on gardenias here when they are planted on an eastern exposure. When planted on the north or westerly side of a structure, even though it is colder, there is far less cold damage, because the plant's tissue has already thawed by the time the sun strikes them. Thus, if one is trying to grow Gardenias out of their "range," one should take this into consideration. As with all Gardenias, one needs to keep eyes open for the ubiquitous white flies which consider Gardenias as their filet mignon. All gardenias are susceptible to white flies, which in turn secret a sticky honey dew and then sooty mold which grows on this, soon follows. So to prevent the sooty mold, the best cure that we have found is using "worm castings." Sounds too good to be true. But this material which passes through the earthworm prevents white flies and also fertilizes your plant and it is completely natural. WOW! Just amazing.
Zones 7b-9
