Snow Girl™ Gardenia

Gardenias have undergone a transformation. A plant that has been grown in America for over 250 years, older, traditional varieties with double flowers had become a little ‘tired’, with a reputation for being ‘difficult’. Rather than let it sink into obscurity, though, breeders decided to work towards a new paradigm, turning that old plant into something new and vibrant. Gone are most of the difficulties – today’s gardenias are much easier to grow, more cold-resistant and much less trouble. Gone are the double flowers too, which often rotted on the plant, or just failed to open. Now, full of life, gardenias are smothered for weeks and weeks with beautiful daisy-like single flowers – large, modern in appearance, and making a great garden display. But the change has not been absolute – no, because these plants keep one important element – the remarkable perfume, tropical, lush and exotic, of the original plant. So with beauties like the Snow Girl™ Gardenia in your garden you can enjoy the best of both – same wonderful scent, but a new, modern look on plants that are fantastic elements of any landscape. Sit back, relax, and let this modern gardenia fill your garden with fragrance, and bloom with such abundance it looks like a late snow-fall on the branches.

Growing the Snow Girl™ Gardenia

Size and Appearance

The Snow Girl™ Gardenia grows at a steady pace into a broad, low, rounded shrub about twice as wide as it is tall, with plants being about 18 inches tall and 3 feet across within a few years of growing in your garden. It has many branches, so it naturally makes a dense, leafy plant across the ground without any need for trimming or pruning. The small leaves are just an inch long, and they are slender ovals, barely ½ an inch across. They are smooth, glossy and a wonderful deep, rich green, even in winter and even with less-than-ideal light. The bush has a charming grace, reaching out across the soil, or spilling from a pot.

In spring every branch tip, across the entire plant, begins to grow a pointed green bud. These develop, and open in succession into a remarkable abundance of large blooms. So many may be open at one time that the foliage is almost completely obscured, yet blooming continues for weeks, with a major blooming in spring, followed by periodic flushes of flowers through summer and into the fall.
Each bloom is a flat disc of 6 broad, thick petals, making a large bloom up to 2 inches across. Even a young plant may carry 100 blooms at a time. Each flower opens pure snow-white, gradually changing over a week to a soft cream, before naturally falling, so no dead-heading is needed. The flat disc of white is accented by a short cone of golden-yellow in the center of the bloom, which is surrounded by a 6-pointed star made of the pollen-carrying stamens. Different in appearance, certainly, but when you smell the classic fragrance rising from the bush you will know indeed that this really is a gardenia.

During the weeks it is not in bloom the lovely leaves make it a handsome evergreen, and a 365 day beautiful presence in your landscape.

Using the Snow Girl™ Gardenia in Your Garden

The versatility of the Snow Girl™ Gardenia is remarkable. Use it as a foreground shrub in the planting around your home, or to line a pathway. Grow a single plant in a small bed, or plant it in groups or rows. Space plants 2 feet apart and within a few years they will be a full, flowing mass of green and white. Wherever you need a touch of snowy beauty, here it is. It is also fabulous in containers and pots, decorating your deck, patio or porch. In zones 9 and 10 plants in pots are hardy outdoors all year round. In zones 7 and 8 bring your plants into a cool glass porch or a cool, bright place in your home for the coldest months, and return outside as soon as possible, for the best growth.

Hardiness

The Snow Girl™ Gardenia is fully hardy throughout zone 7, with almost no foliage loss during the coldest months. It also grows well in hot areas, being perfectly happy in zones 9 and 10, right down to the tip of Florida and around the Gulf.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Although gardenias are often planted in shade, it is best to grow them with some morning sun, especially in cooler zones. Plant your Snow Girl™ Gardenia where it has full sun in the morning, and shade in the afternoon. In hot zones it will also grow well in light all-day shade, such as beneath high canopies of deciduous trees. Avoid low-hanging evergreens and dark corners, where it will not be happy.

It is important that this plant is grown in acidic soils, with a pH value of 6.0 or less. Even down to 4.5 it will be happy. It also enjoys rich soil, so add plenty of lime-free organic composts, or even peat moss, when preparing the planting area. Use more each spring as a mulch, being careful not to bury the foliage or pile it up around the stem. Spread it out over the whole root zone.
If you don’t have suitable soil, or simply want it in a pot, use a pot with a large drainage hole and plant in soil blended for acid-loving plants, like azaleas.

Maintenance and Pruning

The ‘secret’ to gardenia success is first to have the right light and soil, and then to water so it is never too wet, and never too dry. Do this by always watering thoroughly and then never water while the top inch of soil is still wet. Do the same for plants in pots, never leaving the pot sitting in a saucer of water. Trickle irrigation is also excellent for gardenias. When young, some liquid fertilizer for acid-loving plants will help it give you 100%, and regular fertilizing is essential for plants growing in pots.

It is not necessary to prune your Snow Girl™ Gardenia, but if you want to, do it immediately after the big spring display of bloom is over, and not at any other time of year, or the blooming will be greatly reduced.

History and Origin of the Snow Girl™ Gardenia

Although often called ‘Cape Jasmine’, Gardenia jasminoides came originally from China, with the first plants arriving in Charleston in 1762. It was an instant hit, and women wore corsages of the flowers to the grand balls of the South. Since those times it has fallen a little out of fashion.

Bob Head is a highly-regarded plant breeder, especially of azaleas, who has a nursery in Seneca, South Carolina. Wanting to bring gardenias into the 21st century he started by collecting seeds from a single-flowered old variety called ‘Daisy’. From these seeds, collected in 2008. He grew many, many seedlings, and in 2009 he selected one that had outstanding features of great garden value. After years of testing he found it was very reliable and unique, and he named it ‘WAH-LM’. In 2019 he was granted a US patent on it. For gardeners it was christened and trademarked as Snow Girl™, and to be sure it had wide circulation so everyone could enjoy it, it was released across the country by Star® Roses and Plants.

Buying the Snow Girl™ Gardenia at the Tree Center

If you love the scent and snow-white beauty of gardenias, you will adore the lovely Snow Girl™ Gardenia, with its modern look, broad spreading form, large blooms and delicious fragrance. Everyone wants to be growing these modern beauties, so order your plants now, while we still have them available. That won’t be for long, so order right away and we will reserve them immediately, shipping them to your home within a very short time.