Gardenia (Gardenia augusta)

Gardenia

(Gardenia augusta)

December 16, 2010

Continuing on with sharing a few pictures of our visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida here is a picture of a gorgeous Gardenia with the information tag.  I mentioned that many of the plant species within the park had information tags.  Each tag gives the common and scientific name as well as a few details about the plant.    The Gardenia (Gardenia augusta) is an evergreen shrub that presents masses of fragrant white flowers in April and May.  It is a member of the coffee family.  Gardenia is somewhat drought and cold trolerant.  It prefers full sun to part shade.  This shrub would be an ideal addition to our vacation home garden!  Hiding behind the trunk of the Gardenia is one of the many birds that frequent the gardens hoping to be fed by visitors.

Visiting these types of parks can be very informative for the home gardener.  It is difficult to picture what a mature plant, shrub or tree will look like from a picture in a book or online.  More importantly is is difficult to gauge the mature size.  Quite often a home gardener will plant a tree or shrub only to find out it is too big for the intended location when it reaches maturity. 

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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