White And Fragrant (not Smelly To Me)

[MrSeedy]

My very old gardenia , which is an offspring of one I bought many years ago , is happiest in the summer , when it's outdoors in the heat and humidity and when it can get lots of reflected light under my big tree. The leaves tend to turn yellow with more sun. Right now it's just ready for a huge flush of flowers on every branch tip, though I can get flowers in winter indoors, when they appreciated perhaps even more. I learned the "tricks" for keeping them alive indoors through the winter years ago and have never lost one, though for the average northern gardener they can be "tricky" plants in the average indoor winter environment. I've mentioned my Murayas or Orange Jessamines before with their small white flowers in clusters, and their intense orange blossom fragrance, and I'm finding as expected , though I've never put them outdoors for the summer before, they really love their summer outdoors for very abundant flowers, and healthy leaves and they're going into their second "flush" of flowers. Such perfume out there and for our members , who really love white, they're great as well in the color department as well!! Here's the gardenia bush.

[MrSeedy]

Here's just a single flower, though I must say they're not the biggest I've ever seen and sometimes there are varieties or "cultivars" which tend to have bigger flowers. I'm tempted to order one of those "large" flowered ones!!

[MrSeedy]

Here's a picture of the Murraya paniculata, and it's on a young seedling plant, and started to flower when a very small seedling under six inches tall. What an intoxicating flower, and the flower clusters can be lovely, though the flowers are generall under an in. across for individual flowers. Even just one of those flowers can fill a full room with fragrance , I've learned.

[MrSeedy]

Oh my, and I hope you folks with a slow download don't mind the long time involved to see the big picture. To tell you the truth, I've never gotten a good look at the flower sturcture , to see it well, since my eyes aren't the best, and that picture captures all the detail of the entire structure. I'll post a smaller picture for the rest of you with a slow connection!! Sorry, but I"ve just found out I have a technical problem once I've moved the photo from the original "editor" and can't get it back to "re-edit" it to a smaller picture???? Anyway if I add the white and extremely fragrant Casa Blanca oriental lily to the mix, I've got a "trinity" of white and fragrance , but the Casa Blanca is one just about all of us can grow in our gardens and which don't require the winter move indoors to survive.

[thinkdirt]

Mr. Seedy, I am in love how beautiful they are. I have a gardenia that I have had for 3 years in a pot that goes on my screened in porch for the summer and in the house for the winter. How do you get it to make buds and bloom, it never has any helpful hints I need all the help I can get LOL.

Oh my what a Gorgorous Muraya Where can I get one. I just love Jasimines I am in zone denial and grow what I can find here in Ohio. I sit on my screened in porch in the evening and just take in the wonderful fragrance until time to go to bed and I swear I can still smell them while I am asleep. Anyway if it is my mind I can smell them all night LOL.

JoAnn

[MrSeedy]

JoAnn , I got the original Murraya years ago from Logee's Tropicals, and it was a very small and inexpensive plant, Since then their prices are up a bit, but I've found that the seedlings from the original one that was cutting grown most likely, are very quick to flower at the youngest age. I guess however they an be a bit tricky for some reason, though I've found them easy. Old Shoe , who likes to do the bonsais, has had problems with the ones she's ordered from various sources, and even with her greenhouse , she still has problems with them. They just need brightt light , warm temperatures yearound , and high humidity to do well, I'd say, so mine are happier with the extra light outdoors. They can flower yearound with the right conditions , but are spotty with the flowering , when I have them indoors sometimes, but do well in a sunny window with the flowering. I had loads in midwinter in a south window.

[gonzer]

B) Mr. S, a single Gardenia plant that I've had for about 8 years is my only connection really, with growing 'normal' plants. A couple of blooms each year, no big deal, but the fragrance brings back soooo many good memories.

[grindle]

I can just smell the gardenia :rolleyes: and I love that Murraya I've never seen one before

[maynardmarie]

Okay LOL I thought wow that is gorgeous (Murraya paniculata), never heard of it and googled it..... ^_^ it's orange jasmine and I already have one :lol: :lol: :lol:
Although DH thinks the smell is a bit too much.....I told him he better stay inside when the sambac jasmine 'Grand Duke' is blooming, one blossom will not your socks off :wub:

[MrSeedy]

My "Grand Duke" has never flowered unfortunately, and I'm a bit envious to say the least. I even tried some new fertilizer with lots of trace minerals to see if that would help with the blooming , but so far no luck!! I keep thinking I should through those out after all these years without blooms, but then I think there might be some little thing I need to do to get the blooms. I know my indoor conditions aren't ideal for them in the winter, so maybe they need more months of ideal growing conditions, though I read somewhere that were they're left outdoors in "marginal" areas regarding possible frosts and diebacks, that they still manange to flower after a hard dieback, though very late in the summer or even in the fall.
Maybe it's time to grab some of the "Super Phosphate" , since that's often mentioned to encourage "reluctant" bloomers to perform, but I'm not ever tried it as I can recall. Do you give your Grand Duke anything special in the way of plantfood maynardmarie??

[maynardmarie]

not really but as it is at the base of one of the brugs, I'm sure it is getting some of their fertilizer. which is high in the middle #...I would definitely try that before discarding it. Smells wonderful and when fully open reminds me of a very full mini rose blossom

[MrSeedy]

I'm sorry to say unfortunately, that for most plants even not in flower, I find the leaves attractive and that makes them worth keeping even if they don't flower, but I've always found the leaves on the "Grand Duke" very peculiar and not so attractive , when it's not in flower. Just my opinion , but those "puckery" leaves seem odd to me. Is "PUCKERY" a proper botanical term?? Probably not!!!

[maynardmarie]

Got to agree with ya mrS...it is not that attractive and no matter what i do..I had one at previous home....thay never seem to get nice and bushy, more of a scraggly grower, which is why I put it where it is :lol:

[MrSeedy]

I'd agree with the straggly "growth habit" , since it seems no matter how much I prune the darn things to encourage branching they only replace the "removed" portions with one or two new shoots, so they never do as you said "Get bushy". Too bad they're not the most attractive plants when not in flower , because the flowers are "dynamite" in the beauty and fragrance department. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything with some plants. Im glad you added that "bushiness thing to my infomation , since I thought perhaps the lack of bushiness on my plants was just a case of poor "management" on my part.

[maynardmarie]

Corse not MrS, it is just the darn plants fault....personally I think with such wonderful fragrance and pretty blossoms...it would know how to grow right :lol: