Silver Lining Dwarf Gardenia. I found this selection in an outstanding home garden in Charleston, SC. It has the same growth habit of the typical "Radicans" cultivar except that the foliage is a pewter-green with a fine irregular white margin. When I "Google" for a variegated dwarf Gardenia, this cultivar will come up as well as the 'Radicans Variegated' that we also have. So I have taken it upon myself to christen this cultivar as 'Silver Lining.' It is truly outstanding and always garners attention by everyone that sees it. From a distance it appears to be a silver mound of foliage, closely resembling a narrow leaf cultivar of Asiatic Jasmine. It has the same double fragrant flowers as 'Radicans.' It is best grown giving it some protection from cold winter winds and site it so that it does not get early morning sun on cold winter days, as this will result in foliage burn. It performs quite well under filtered sun conditions. Amazingly, we have found this cultivar to be more cold-hardy than 'Radicans', and we have seen this with several variegated plants. We are thinking that the reason might be that with its heavily variegated foliage, its growth shuts down well before cold weather ensues, making it less prone to cold damage. 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-10
