{"title":"Gardenias","description":"\u003cp\u003eGardenias are grown for two things: perfume, and evergreen structure that stays neat all year. The leaves are thick and glossy, the habit is dense, and the white flowers open through the warm months with a scent that carries on a still evening. That makes them a shrub for the places you pass every day: a front path, a courtyard, the bed under a bedroom window. They suit coastal, subtropical and warm temperate gardens, and they reward a gardener who is happy to water and feed. In dry inland heat, heavy frost or exposed wind they are hard work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen lines are stocked here, in pot sizes from 80mm tubes up to advanced stock, so you can buy small and wait or plant something with presence now. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-florida\"\u003eGardenia augusta Florida\u003c\/a\u003e is the standard garden gardenia and the one most people picture: rounded, densely leafed, double white flowers, available from 80mm right through to 400mm. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-magnifica\"\u003eGardenia augusta Magnifica\u003c\/a\u003e is taller and more open with larger blooms, better as a specimen than clipped hard. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-radicans\"\u003eGardenia augusta Radicans\u003c\/a\u003e is the prostrate form, low and spreading with smaller leaves, for edging and groundcover. Gardenia Radicans is the same habit in a single 170mm size. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-tinkerbell-pbr\"\u003eGardenia Tinkerbell PBR\u003c\/a\u003e stays compact enough for pots and narrow beds where Florida would outgrow the space. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-gold-magic\"\u003eGardenia Gold Magic\u003c\/a\u003e opens white and ages to deep gold, so an established plant carries both colours at once. It comes as 5L stock only, as does Gardenia Professor Pucci, while Gardenia Grandiflora Star runs 140mm to 200mm. The native gardenia is a different plant altogether: \u003ca href=\"\/products\/atractocarpus-fitzalanii\"\u003eNative Gardenia, Atractocarpus fitzalanii\u003c\/a\u003e is a Queensland rainforest tree with large glossy leaves and scented white flowers, stocked from 140mm pots up to 1000L for screening and shade, and listed twice here, under that name and under the older name Randia fitzalanii.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePlant into acidic, free draining soil worked over with compost, in morning sun with cover from hot afternoon sun inland. Water deeply and consistently through bud and flower, feed after each flush with a fertiliser made for acid loving plants, mulch to keep the root zone cool, and prune lightly after flowering to hold the shape. Where gardenias fail in Australian gardens, the cause is usually alkaline soil. Planted tight against a rendered wall, a concrete path or a new slab, lime leaches into the root zone, the pH climbs, and the plant can no longer take up iron. Leaves turn yellow between green veins, buds colour and drop before they open, and the shrub sits there for years without dying or growing. Test your soil pH before you dig, keep the bed clear of fresh concrete, or use a pot with an azalea and camellia mix so you control the pH yourself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGardenias plant well beside \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/camellias\"\u003ecamellias\u003c\/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/hydrangea\"\u003ehydrangeas\u003c\/a\u003e, which take the same part shade; camellias share the acid soil requirement, and hydrangeas simply colour blue in it. See \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/flowering\"\u003eflowering plants\u003c\/a\u003e for more scent and seasonal colour, or \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/hedges\"\u003ehedges\u003c\/a\u003e for a clipped low border rather than loose shrubs. Every order ships farm-direct with flat $99 delivery across QLD, NSW, VIC, SA, ACT and WA, a $399 minimum order, and the 30-Day Healthy Plant Guarantee.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"atractocarpus-fitzalanii","title":"Native Gardenia - Atractocarpus fitzalanii","description":"\u003cp\u003ePut this one where you sit of an evening, near a door, a path or an outdoor table, because the perfume is what you are buying. The white waxy flowers are heavily perfumed and carry a long way on a still evening, and they sit against foliage that is genuinely glossy, deep green and dense enough to screen. Orange-yellow fruit follows.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAtractocarpus fitzalanii comes out of the north Queensland rainforest but has become a standard in gardens well south of there. It is naturally tidy and upright, and slow enough to suit a courtyard. It drops very little, so it gets used around pools and paved entertaining areas where a lilly pilly would make work for you. It also holds in a large pot for years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGive it a sheltered spot with moisture-retentive soil and protection from hot dry wind and frost, particularly while young. Growth is not quick, so if you need a screen at height, start with an advanced plant rather than waiting on a tube. Sizes run from 1.5L up to 1000L specimens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 13 sizes, from 1.5L up to 1000L, priced from $19.95 to $4949.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"1000L","offer_id":64308340359537,"sku":null,"price":4949.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"25L","offer_id":64308340392305,"sku":null,"price":119.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"150L","offer_id":64308340425073,"sku":null,"price":789.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":64308340457841,"sku":null,"price":239.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64308340490609,"sku":null,"price":19.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2L","offer_id":64308340523377,"sku":null,"price":32.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64308340556145,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200L","offer_id":64308340588913,"sku":null,"price":929.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"100L","offer_id":64308340621681,"sku":null,"price":649.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64308340654449,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400L","offer_id":64308340687217,"sku":null,"price":2199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64308340719985,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"1.5L","offer_id":64311646060913,"sku":null,"price":60.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/MktkEyWvjGpicS_Rn5JBQ_wiz6seZ7.jpg?v=1787627183"},{"product_id":"gardenia-gold-magic","title":"Gardenia Gold Magic","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe flowers are the point of difference here. Gold Magic opens white, then ages through cream to a deep buttery gold instead of browning off, so a bush in full flush carries both tones at the same time and the display holds on the plant longer than it does on most gardenias. The scent is the usual rich gardenia perfume, strongest in the evening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFoliage is evergreen, glossy and dark, and growth is slow to moderate, which keeps it in scale for pots, a fragrant border edge or a low informal hedge. Part shade suits it best. Hot western sun scorches the leaves, and drying wind browns the flower buds before they get a chance to open.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYellowing leaves are the complaint that comes up most often with gardenias, and it is almost always nutrition or cold wet roots rather than disease. They want acidic soil, so feed with a fertiliser formulated for them, add iron and magnesium if the leaves go pale between the veins, and keep the root zone mulched and evenly moist. Supplied in 5lt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 5L, at $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"5L","offer_id":64308904722801,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/CqA20jVKfJsfedyZ_TNQo_ORHqL9t7.jpg?v=1787628149"},{"product_id":"randia-fitzalanii","title":"Native Gardenia - Randia fitzalanii","description":"\u003cp\u003eNative gardenia is a rainforest tree from the Queensland coast rather than a shrub, growing with a fairly narrow crown and large deep green leaves that hold a lacquered shine. Despite the common name it belongs to a different genus, and it shows: clusters of white five petalled flowers in spring, strongly scented in the evening, followed by yellow fruit that birds strip. In gardens it works as a well behaved small shade tree, a screen for a narrow side boundary, or a courtyard specimen in a sheltered position.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eFrost and dry wind decide where this tree will grow\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt belongs in subtropical and warm coastal gardens, and it will take full sun once it has hardened up, though young plants do better in part shade behind a windbreak. Give it rich, moisture retentive soil, keep a deep mulch over the roots, and water regularly through summer, which the specs call for and which those large soft leaves make obvious. Space plants around two metres apart in a screening row so each keeps its own crown. It drops fruit once mature, worth thinking about before planting over paving or a pool surround.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe limit on where it succeeds is cold and dry wind, not soil. Frost cuts back young growth, and hot dry wind scorches leaf margins and browns the tips; because the tree is evergreen, both marks stay on display for a full season rather than dropping in autumn. Gardeners in cold inland districts and in dry exposed positions lose the look of the plant even when it survives. Site it out of the prevailing wind, under high canopy or against a warm wall in marginal areas, and plant in spring once the frost risk has passed rather than going in ahead of winter.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eA tree among shrubs\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eEverything else in this hub is a shrub. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-magnifica\"\u003eGardenia Magnifica\u003c\/a\u003e and its relatives get clipped, potted and hedged at knee to chest height, and they need acidic soil and part shade to look right, while Randia is a tree that will eventually cast shade of its own and is far less fussy about pH. If you want native perfume in a smaller frame, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/tea-tree-leptospermum-petersonii\"\u003eLemon Scented Tea Tree\u003c\/a\u003e carries its scent in the foliage rather than the flower and takes much drier ground. Choose Randia when there is room for a canopy and you want evening perfume overhead. More in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/natives\"\u003enatives\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eLifting the crown and feeding a young tree\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eIt needs almost no pruning beyond lifting the lower branches for clearance underneath, and late winter, ahead of the spring flush, is the time to do it so cuts close quickly. Take out crossing or damaged wood at the same time. Feed in spring and again in early summer with a complete controlled release fertiliser at a moderate rate, and top up mulch each year rather than cultivating around the surface roots. Advanced stock settles in faster with a deep soak once a week through its first two summers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 7 sizes, from 140mm up to 200L, priced from $17.95 to $1099.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/australian-native-trees-for-shade\"\u003eAustralian native trees\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"100L","offer_id":64311393681777,"sku":null,"price":649.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"45L","offer_id":64311393714545,"sku":null,"price":229.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311393747313,"sku":null,"price":17.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311393780081,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311393812849,"sku":null,"price":65.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311393845617,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200L","offer_id":64311393878385,"sku":null,"price":1099.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-native-gardenia-randia-fitzalanii_33254b0f-f990-4f44-ba17-56be6234480f.png?v=1785551720"},{"product_id":"gardenia-grandiflora-star","title":"Gardenia Grandiflora Star","description":"\u003cp\u003eNearly every gardenia sold in Australia is a tight double, which is what makes Grandiflora Star worth a second look. It opens large single flowers with broad, flat, overlapping petals set in a star, white on opening and ageing to cream against glossy dark evergreen leaves on an upright, moderately dense shrub. The scent is heavy and carries on warm evenings, so its place is beside a doorway, a path or an outdoor table rather than at the back of a bed where the flower shape is lost.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003ePots, pH drift and pale new leaves\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart shade with shelter from hot afternoon sun is the position, and it does well in warm temperate and subtropical gardens where nights stay mild through the flowering season. In the ground it wants moist, acidic, free draining soil with compost through it, mulch over the roots, and steady water in summer rather than heavy soakings after a dry spell.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMost plants of this one end up in pots, though, and that is where the failure shows. Potting mix breaks down over a couple of seasons, drainage falls away, and in hard water districts every watering leaves a little more lime and salt behind until the mix is no longer acidic at all. The plant answers with pale new leaves marked by dark green veins, then drops its buds. Repot into a fresh mix formulated for acid loving plants every second spring, use rainwater where you can, flush the pot occasionally with a long slow watering to carry salts out the base, and keep chelated iron on hand rather than assuming the plant simply needs more fertiliser.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eSingle flowers against the doubles in this range\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe comparison worth making is with \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-magnifica\"\u003eMagnifica\u003c\/a\u003e, also a large flowered gardenia but a fully double one on a coarser, broader frame. Doubles hold their shape longer and read as more formal; the single star opens flat, shows its centre and looks looser in a bed. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-florida\"\u003eFlorida\u003c\/a\u003e stays the choice for a clipped low hedge, since it holds a tighter face and Star reads looser under regular shearing. If you want that same scent at ground level instead, \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-radicans\"\u003eRadicans\u003c\/a\u003e delivers it on a low spreading frame. Pick Star for a feature pot, a courtyard corner or a planting beside a seat, where individual flowers get looked at. More in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/flowering\"\u003eflowering plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eDeadheading, light pruning and feeding\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eDeadhead spent flowers as they brown, which keeps the plant tidy and reduces the fungal spotting that follows old petals in humid weather. Repot or refresh container plants in early spring as growth starts, well before the flower buds form. Prune lightly once the main flush ends, shaping rather than cutting hard, and finish before autumn so the wood carrying next season's buds is left alone. Feed in early spring and again after midsummer with an acidic fertiliser, and in a pot add a fortnightly liquid feed at half strength while it is flowering. Check leaf joints for mealybug through warm humid spells.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 3 sizes, from 140mm up to 200mm, priced from $16.95 to $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311399776625,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"175mm","offer_id":64311399809393,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311399842161,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/pd17-345-star-gardenia-gardenia-grandiflora-star_e0c3f1b2-c06f-4200-a904-5fa8c92ddb08.png?v=1785551731"},{"product_id":"gardenia-augusta-magnifica","title":"Gardenia augusta Magnifica (Gardenia jasminoides)","description":"\u003cp\u003eMagnifica is the large flowered form of the group, a broader and heavier shrub than the others, with big deep green leaves that hold a lacquered shine. The blooms are the point of difference: substantial doubles, white opening and ageing to cream, heavily scented, and carried in smaller numbers than the fine leaved types produce because each one is so much bigger. It fills a border on its own, works as a loose low screen, and carries a large pot where a smaller gardenia would look thin.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eBig leaves, big flowers and yellowing from the bottom up\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart shade with protection from hot afternoon sun is the position, as the specs list, and it will take more sun in a cool district than it ever will in the subtropics. Plant into acidic, free draining soil with plenty of compost, mulch to keep the roots cool, and allow around 80cm to a metre between plants where several are run together as a screen. Even moisture matters more than volume; buds drop if the plant dries out or is shifted while it is setting them.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eYellowing is the classic gardenia failure, and on Magnifica it usually starts as magnesium hunger rather than the alkaline soil trouble the smaller forms run into. A canopy of big leaves carrying big flowers pulls magnesium out of the plant faster than a fine leaved gardenia does, and the drain runs hardest right through the flowering flush. The tell is on the older leaves low down: yellow creeping in from the margins and leaving a green wedge along the midrib, while the tips stay dark. General and high potassium fertilisers make it worse, because potassium competes with magnesium at the root. Water in Epsom salts as the flush starts and again once it finishes, feed with a food made for acid loving plants rather than a rose or lawn product, and test the pH before reaching for iron, since pale new leaves with dark veins point to alkaline ground and locked up iron instead, which is a different fix.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eWhen size is the reason to choose Magnifica\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eChoosing between the augusta forms comes down to scale. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-florida\"\u003eFlorida\u003c\/a\u003e is the tidier, mid sized plant for a clipped low hedge or matched pots, and it flowers more freely with smaller blooms. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-grandiflora-star\"\u003eGrandiflora Star\u003c\/a\u003e breaks the pattern with single, flat, star shaped flowers instead of doubles, for anyone who finds the double form too formal. Magnifica is the one to buy when you want size in both leaf and flower: a specimen beside a doorway, a deep border that needs filling, or a large container. It is the poorest choice of the three for tight clipping. More in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/flowering\"\u003eflowering plants\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003ePruning a heavy canopy and feeding it\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrune once the main flush is over, shortening stems by a third at most and taking out thin twiggy wood at the base so air moves through what is a dense canopy. Avoid cutting after early autumn. Feed in spring and again in midsummer with an azalea and camellia food, water it in well, and top up mulch afterwards. Scale and mealybug settle into the leaf joints on plants this heavily furnished and bring sooty mould with them, so check undersides while you prune and treat with horticultural oil in warm weather.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 5 sizes, from 140mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311426613617,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"175mm","offer_id":64311426646385,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311426679153,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311426711921,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311426744689,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-magnifica-gardenia-gardenia-augusta-magnifica-20260611_8294bdf2-910a-4212-9c1f-c03c92a2c9f9.png?v=1785551787"},{"product_id":"gardenia-augusta-florida","title":"Gardenia augusta Florida (Gardenia jasminoides)","description":"\u003cp\u003eFlorida is the middle sized gardenia in this range, an upright rounded shrub carrying glossy dark evergreen leaves densely enough to clip into a line. The flowers are the reason to grow it: double white blooms with a heavy scent, opening through the warm months and ageing to cream. Its frame suits work the smaller and larger forms cannot do, which is a low clipped hedge along a path or a matched pair of pots either side of a doorway where the perfume is caught on the way past.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003ePosition, pH and the hedge that yellows nearest the path\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart shade is the position it wants, with shelter from hot afternoon sun, which scorches leaves and drops buds. Warm temperate and subtropical gardens suit it; in cold districts it stalls over winter and starts late. Give it acidic, free draining soil built up with compost, keep the root zone mulched, and space plants roughly 50 to 60cm apart for a low hedge. Water steadily rather than in bursts, because soil that dries out while buds are swelling drops them.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe failure mode is chlorosis on alkaline ground, and Florida meets it more often than its relatives because of where it gets planted. A hedge running beside a concrete path or against house footings sits in ground that lime has leached into for years, and builders fill under a new bed is usually worse again. The tell is yellow leaves with green veins, worst on the section nearest the concrete while plants further along stay dark. Test the pH before blaming your watering, then correct with an acidic fertiliser, chelated iron, magnesium as Epsom salts, and elemental sulphur worked in over a season or two.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eFlorida against Radicans and Magnifica\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe three augusta forms sit side by side and are not interchangeable. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-radicans\"\u003eRadicans\u003c\/a\u003e is low and spreading with small leaves and small flowers, so it edges a border or spills from a pot, and any hedging it does is an ankle high edge rather than a clipped face. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-magnifica\"\u003eMagnifica\u003c\/a\u003e is coarser in leaf with much larger blooms on a bigger frame, better as a single border shrub than a clipped run. Florida sits between them, and it is the one to pick when you want a defined low hedge, a repeated planting along a path, or an evenly matched row of pots. Randia fitzalanii, the native gardenia listed in the same hub, is a tree rather than a shrub and a different proposition altogether. Compare the group in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/gardenia\"\u003egardenias\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eTrimming a low gardenia hedge\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePrune straight after the main flush finishes, cutting back to a leaf pair to build density. A hedge can be tipped lightly two or three times over the warm season, but stop by late summer or you will remove the wood that carries next season's buds. Feed in early spring with a fertiliser formulated for acid loving plants, repeat in midsummer, and add iron and magnesium where the ground tends alkaline. In pots, refresh the top of the mix each spring and liquid feed fortnightly while the plant is in flower.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 8 sizes, from 80mm up to 400mm, priced from $16.95 to $199.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"80mm","offer_id":64311449682289,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311449747825,"sku":null,"price":99.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311449780593,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311449813361,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"125mm","offer_id":64311449846129,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"400mm","offer_id":64311449878897,"sku":null,"price":199.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"180mm","offer_id":64311449911665,"sku":null,"price":22.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311449944433,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-florida-gardenia-gardenia-augusta-florida-20260609_e89cafd8-f730-4f3c-9d76-0d5931339dfc.png?v=1785551862"},{"product_id":"gardenia-augusta-radicans","title":"Gardenia augusta Radicans (Gardenia jasminoides)","description":"\u003cp\u003eRadicans is the ground hugging form, a low spreading plant with fine small leaves that runs sideways rather than up and stays well below knee height. What sets it apart is scent at ground level: small double white flowers, as heavily perfumed as any gardenia, carried on a plant you look down on rather than into. It is used as a fragrant edge along a path, as mass planting beneath a window, and spilling over the rim of a wide pot or the face of a low retaining wall.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eCold wet winter soil under a ground hugging gardenia\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003ePart shade suits it, with morning sun and shelter from hot afternoon glare, and it wants the same acidic, compost rich, free draining ground the taller gardenias need. Space plants around 40 to 50cm apart for mass planting so they knit into continuous cover, and mulch between them until they do. Keep water even through summer, since a shallow rooted spreader dries out faster than an upright shrub in the same bed.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLate winter yellowing is the complaint that comes back every year, and Radicans gets it worse than its upright relatives for a structural reason. Its roots sit in the top few centimetres of soil, exactly the layer that stays coldest and wettest through winter, and iron uptake all but stops in cold wet ground even where the pH is right. On alkaline soil the two problems compound and the whole planting goes pale at once. Fix drainage before anything else, ease off watering over winter, and feed with chelated iron and an acidic fertiliser once the soil warms in spring rather than in the middle of the yellow spell.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eRadicans or Florida: two different jobs\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eBuyers weighing Radicans against \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-florida\"\u003eFlorida\u003c\/a\u003e are choosing between two different jobs. Florida builds a rounded shrub you can clip into a low hedge with a face; Radicans hedges only in the sense that a mass planting knits into a continuous ankle high edge, and pushing it upright leaves a bare, patchy mat. \u003ca href=\"\/products\/gardenia-augusta-magnifica\"\u003eMagnifica\u003c\/a\u003e is larger again in leaf and flower and belongs in a deep border. Pick Radicans for the front edge of a bed, for underplanting beneath taller shrubs, for a wide shallow pot, or anywhere a taller gardenia would block a view you want kept open. Grandiflora Star, the single flowered form in this hub, stands upright again and belongs in a pot or a bed corner. The rest of the group is in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/gardenia\"\u003egardenias\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ch3\u003eShearing a gardenia mat and feeding it\u003c\/h3\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrim after the main flowering flush with shears, taking the tips back lightly to thicken the mat and cutting out any long shoots that lift above the rest. Do not cut into old bare wood at the centre, which reshoots slowly and leaves a hole in the meantime. Feed in early spring with an acid loving plant food spread across the whole planting rather than dropped at individual stems, since the roots run well beyond each crown, and follow with a lighter second feed in midsummer. Watch older leaves for scale and the sooty mould that trails it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 4 sizes, from 140mm up to 300mm, priced from $16.95 to $88.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"200mm","offer_id":64311478944113,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311478976881,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"250mm","offer_id":64311479009649,"sku":null,"price":59.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300mm","offer_id":64311479042417,"sku":null,"price":88.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/plantdrop-radicans-gardenia-gardenia-augusta-radicans-20260611_787182b2-5891-400d-8633-b4d16a22caa0.png?v=1785551967"},{"product_id":"gardenia-professor-pucci","title":"Gardenia Professor Pucci","description":"\u003cp\u003eMost gardenias sold in Australia are the small flowered Florida or the low growing Radicans. Professor Pucci is the big flowered one: fully double white blooms the size of a small rose, heavily scented, opening cream and ageing to soft yellow, carried on an upright shrub with thick, glossy, dark green leaves. It flowers through the warm months, and one plant near a window or a seat does the work of several.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart shade is what it wants, with steady moisture and a rich, acidic, well composted soil. It will not tolerate lime, and yellow leaves with green veins almost always mean iron or magnesium is locked up rather than that the plant is hungry. Iron chelates and a dose of Epsom salts in spring usually turn it around.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBud drop is the other common complaint, and it comes from the soil drying out or hot dry wind hitting the plant while buds are forming. Mulch well. Watch for scale and the sooty mould that follows it. Supplied in 5lt.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 5L, at $29.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"5L","offer_id":64311497589105,"sku":null,"price":29.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/Y1iJVkNUh32DbaW9GsYpi_aqzRT8vX.jpg?v=1787630065"},{"product_id":"gardenia-tinkerbell-pbr","title":"Gardenia Tinkerbell PBR","description":"\u003cp\u003eCompact gardenias solve a problem the big old florida types create: everyone wants the scent near a doorway, and nobody wants a wide shrub crowding the path. Tinkerbell is a small-growing selection with the glossy dark green leaves and white, heavily perfumed flowers the genus is grown for, carried through the warm months on a plant that stays low and rounded without hard pruning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt suits a low informal hedge along a path, a pair of pots either side of a door, or the front rank of a shaded border. Part shade with morning light, steady moderate water and an acidic soil are the conditions it asks for.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYellow leaves are the complaint we hear most about gardenias, and the cause is nearly always cold wet soil over winter or a magnesium and iron shortage in alkaline ground. Feed through the warm season with a fertiliser made for acid-loving plants, mulch well, and keep it away from reflective west-facing walls. Watch for scale and the sooty mould that follows it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is available in 2 sizes, from 140mm up to 170mm, priced from $16.95 to $23.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. These are younger plants, priced for planting in quantity, and they establish quickly once in the ground. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"140mm","offer_id":64311511253361,"sku":null,"price":16.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true},{"title":"170mm","offer_id":64311511286129,"sku":null,"price":23.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/Nq0LK8qbCBxhn27siFjqc_prmWIYte.jpg?v=1787630240"},{"product_id":"gardenia-radicans","title":"Gardenia Radicans","description":"\u003cp\u003eBecause Radicans grows outward rather than upward, it fills a role most gardenias cannot: a low spreading band along a path edge or across the front of a shrub border, where the scent sits close to where people walk. The leaves are small, dark and glossy, and the double white flowers are proportionally small too, opening through the warmer months and ageing to cream.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe classic complaint is yellow leaves. On this plant that usually means cold wet soil in late winter, an alkaline patch near a slab or brick footing, or a magnesium shortage, and it is worth diagnosing before reaching for more fertiliser. Grow it in a bed with plenty of organic matter and steady moisture, in morning sun with shelter from hot afternoon sun. Watch for scale and the sooty mould that follows it. Pots suit it well, since a free draining mix and restricted roots keep the plant tight and the flowering steady.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3 class=\"pd-size-guidance\"\u003eChoosing a size\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis plant is supplied in one size, 170mm, at $21.95 per plant. The size shown is the pot it arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/news\/when-to-plant-trees-and-shrubs-australia\"\u003ewhen to plant in Australia\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Plant Drop","offers":[{"title":"170mm","offer_id":64311512301937,"sku":null,"price":21.95,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/files\/u1p9Ma98aQmJRH3Q8EvCl_fMTrPrYl.jpg?v=1787630242"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1017\/1049\/6113\/collections\/plantdrop-radicans-gardenia-gardenia-augusta-radicans-20260611_787182b2-5891-400d-8633-b4d16a22caa0.png?v=1787348985","url":"https:\/\/plantdrop.com.au\/collections\/gardenia.oembed","provider":"Plant Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}