Gardenia

Gardenias are waxy, white and very fragrant flowers Gardenias are one of the most popular exotic flowers

Gardenias are native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania. This species can be difficult to grow elsewhere because it demands high humidity to thrive and bright (not direct) light. Some types of gardenias can be grown as houseplants.

Kingdom – Plantae

Division -Magnoliophyta

Class -Magnoliopsida

Order  -Gentianales

Family -Rubiaceae

Genus -Gardenia

Gardenias symbolize purity and sweetness. They indicate secret love. They convey joy. They tell the receiver “you are lovely”.

ome Interesting Facts About Gardenias

• Gardenias are grown for their beautiful foliage and they make great cut flowers.
• Gardenias flowers from about mid-spring to mid-summer, i.e., May through July
• Many of the gardenia species are strongly scented.
• The genus Gardenia is named after Alexander Garden, a physician in Charleston of South Carolina.
• Gardenias can be used as screens, hedges, borders or ground covers.
• In France, Gardenia is the traditional flower which men wear as boutonnieres.
• The most popular cultivated species is the Cape jasmine, native to China.
• Each gardenia flower is followed by 6-sided berries of rich orange-red with long, elegant stems.
• Gardenia thunbergia produces a woody fruit which has hard, angular seeds inside.

About Gardenia Flower and Plant

Gardenias are very fragrant creamy-white flowers with glossy, dark-green leaves. Gardenia flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white or pale yellow. The gardenia flowers are with a tubular-based corolla with 5-12 lobes petals from 5-12 cm diameter.

Gardenia plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1-15 m tall. The Gardenia plant leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four. They are dark green and glossy 5-50 cm long and 3-25 cm broad, with a leathery texture. They are simple, entire, hairless, with wavy margin.

 

Growing Gardenias

• Gardenia plants need high humidity.
• A loose, well-drained organic soil is recommended.
• For best results plant gardenias in full sun, partial shade, or shifting shade.
• Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball.
• Thoroughly mix one part soil and one part planting mix.
• Check that the top of the original root ball is slightly above the level of the surrounding soil.
• Take the soil mixture and make a gentle mound of soil sloping away from the plant so that the water drains away from the trunk.
• Remove any air pockets, if present.
• Water the plant with a root stimulator.

Gardenia Care

• Do not over-water gardenias.
• Fertilize with an acid fertilizer.
• Check for aphids, mealybugs, spider mites, thrips and scales.
• Also check gardenia plants for bud drop, a common ailment.

Peony or Paeonia

Paeonia is a genus of flowering plants, the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. They are native to Asia, Southern Europe and Western North America

Peonies are hardy flowering plants that need little care and live through severe winters. After becoming established in a garden, Peonies bloom each spring for many years. Peonies are also extensively grown as ornamental plants for their very large, often scented cut flowers.

Two Types of Peonies are grown in home gardens:

 1. The garden or herbaceous type or Paeonia hybrids: these have full bushy stems that grow two to four feet tall. Garden peonies grow from tubers.

2. Tree peony or Paeonia suffruticosa: these types often grow to eye-level height on woody stems with few branches. Tree peonies are shrub like plants grown either from seed or from grafts.

Most are herbaceous perennial plants 0.5 to 1.5 metres (1.5 to 5 feet) tall, but some resemble trees 1.5–3 m (5–10 ft) tall. They have compound, deeply lobed leaves and large, often fragrant, flowers, ranging from red to white or yellow, in late spring and early summer.

Peonies can be classified by both plant growth habit and flower type. Plant growth types are Herbaceous (nonwoody), Tree (shrub), and Itoh (or “Intersectional”), which is intermediate between herbaceous and tree forms. In winter herbaceous peonies die back to their underground parts, whereas tree peonies lose their leaves but retain viable woody stems above ground. The Itoh hybrids are intermediate between herbaceous and tree forms. They are named after Toichi Itoh, who first produced a successful intersectional hybrid in 1948.
The following sequence of flower types becomes more complex in its arrangement of petals. The flower types include Single (e.g., Athena, Scarlet O’Hara), Japanese (Nippon Beauty, Madame Butterfly), Anemone, Semi-Double (Paula Fay, Buckeye Belle), Double (Gardenia, Paul M. Wild) and Bomb-Double (Raspberry Sundae, Mons Jules Elie)

Varieties of Peonies include:

• Chinese cut flower Peonies, with large double flowers in shades of red, pink, and white.
• Semi-double Peonies, characterized by several rows of petals and a centre of petals mixed with stamens.
• Anemone Peonies, similar to the double Chinese variety of peonies, but with a centre of narrow petals.
• Japanese Peonies, noted for the contrasting colour of the centre petals and their finely divided foliage.
• Fern leaf Peonies with delicate, fern-like foliage are dwarf in stature and bloom very early.
• Single Peonies with only a few rows of petals standing in their utter simplicity.

• Single Peonies with only a few rows of petals standing in their utter simplicity.