Unique Scent Of Gardenia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The heat-loving Gardenia is famous for its beauty and aroma of flowers. In places open to winds, rains and snowfalls, it grows only on lands with a mild climate. In cold winters, the plant is grown indoors, decorating interiors and enriching the space with a unique scent of flowers

Genus Gardenia

About two and a half hundred species of flowering shrubs are united by the genus Gardenia. Low shrubs are evergreen or deciduous. Sometimes their shoots are armed with thorns.

On short petioles, shiny leathery leaves, reaching a length of 8 cm and having a capricious character, are located opposite on the shoots. When growing a plant in indoor conditions, it is important to clearly determine the watering, the illumination of the place where the fragrant beauty will be located, and the maintenance of the air temperature. At the slightest deviation from the nature-prescribed conditions for growing shrubs, gardenia sheds its leaves in protest, thus punishing the grower for negligence.

The main pride of Gardenia is its fragrant white or cream-colored flowers that bloom in the axils of the leaves, or at the ends of the shoots. The color of the petals changes slightly from bud to full bloom, creating a sophisticated play of color in one compact bush.

Varieties

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Gardenia adorable (Gardenia amoena) - such a cute name does not prevent a shrub that grows up to 150 cm in height from equipping its branches with sharp thorns. Small dark glossy leaves have an oval-lanceolate shape. In June, the bush blooms with single tubular fragrant flowers, which are white inside and pink outside.

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Gardenia jasmine (Gardenia jasminoides) is an evergreen shrub that grows in height from 50 to 200 cm, most often settles in human dwellings. Glossy dark green leaves like to gather in threes, imitating the Christian god. Unlike leaves, large white fragrant flowers prefer the loneliness of a Muslim god, blooming one at a time at the ends of the shoots in the summer. Often these are double flowers, like those of the Florida variety, exuding the most delicate jasmine aroma. Flowers of the "Fortune" variety are larger, resembling camellia flowers.

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Gardenia grandiflorum (Gardenia grandiflora) - as if composed of parts of the two listed species. She is no longer a simple shrub, but a tree growing up to 3 meters in height. The width of its glossy dark lanceolate leaves is less than that of the lovely gardenia, but the funnel-shaped white flowers that bloom in spring and summer are larger.

Growing

Gardenia is a lover of sunny places with diffused lighting, since direct sunlight reduces the intensity of the color of the leaves.

Soils need slightly acidic, light, porous. The soil for planting is prepared from a mixture of loose light earth, peat, rotten foliage and sand, adding charcoal. Long-acting organic and mineral fertilizers are immediately applied to the soil. Once every 2-3 weeks, watering is combined with mineral feeding. Gardenia is hygrophilous, and therefore requires abundant watering and spraying. But in the matter of watering, you should find a middle ground that does not dry out the plant, but also does not provoke its death due to decay of the roots. In addition, when spraying the bush, you should cover the flowers from the spray.

At an early age, the plant is pinched to compact the bush and promote branching.

The winter temperature in the room should not be lower than 12 degrees Celsius.

Reproduction

In February-March, flowerless shoots are used as cuttings. For successful rooting of cuttings, high humidity, an air temperature of 20-25 degrees and a light sandy soil are required. To create high humidity, the container with cuttings is covered with a transparent film.

Diseases and pests

When busting with moisture, fungal diseases are possible.

Mites, aphids, nematodes like to eat with gardenia leaves.