Gardenia belongs to the genus Gardenia of the Rubiaceae family. It is native to the Yangtze River Basin and the south of China. It is also distributed in Vietnam and Japan and is now commonly cultivated in various places.

Gardenia has luxuriant branches and leaves, is evergreen all year round, has large white flowers, and is rich in fragrance. It has been cultivated in gardens for a long time. It can be planted in clusters or as flower hedges, or under sparse forests or at the edge of forests. Plant scattered in front of the garden, along the roadside and beside rocks. It can also be planted in pots or made into bonsai.

Gardenia is an evergreen shrub, 1 to 3 meters high, with clusters of branches, green twigs, and a spherical crown.

Leaves are opposite or whorled with 3 leaves, elliptical-obovate or oblong-obovate, entire edge, glossy and leathery.

The flowers are large, white, solitary on the top of branches or leaf axils, with strong fragrance, and the corolla is tall and saucer-shaped.

The flowering period is from June to September.

The berries are oval, orange-yellow.

Common varieties and types include Gardenia grandiflora, which has large flowers with double petals and a diameter of 7 to 10 centimeters; jade lotus, which has larger flowers and a diameter of 7 to 8 centimeters; Gardenia jasminoides, which has a short plant. The flowers are smaller and double; the single-petal water gardenia is similar to the water gardenia, but the flower is single; the variegated-leaf gardenia has yellow markings on the leaves.

Gardenia likes a warm, humid and well-ventilated environment. It is not cold-tolerant and requires a relative humidity of more than 70%.

It likes light but also tolerates shade. The leaves will easily scorch under direct sunlight.

It prefers fertile, moist and well-drained acidic soil with a pH of 5 to 6. It is intolerant of drought, barrenness, and low-lying waterlogging.

Highly resistant to sulfur dioxide.

Gardenia has strong germination and tillering ability, and is resistant to pruning. The branches and leaves are often staggered and chaotic, so multi-branch closed-heart shapes are often used.

Topping is done for the first time when the new shoots have 2 to 3 nodes, and some side buds are removed. In August, the second branches are topping to cultivate the crown.

It is easy to shape, but the main branches should be few rather than too many.

Maintenance and pruning into flowering age is simple.

Because gardenia is a year-differentiating type, flower buds differentiate in April, and the flowering period is June. Both the terminal buds of the new shoots and the axillary buds near the top can become flowers. They usually bloom after the flower buds differentiate in April to May. A thinning pruning was carried out previously to sort out miscellaneous branches.

Because of its strong germination and tillering ability, it is not advisable to cut it too much or short, so as not to stimulate the branches, disturb the tree shape or affect flowering.

If you want to increase the number of branches, you can cut off the remaining flowers after flowering in June to promote the growth of new shoots.