Gardenia First Love

The Biggest, Most Fragrant Blooms!

These flowers reach 5 inches across — twice the size of most Gardenias’!

First Love beguiles you with early blooms that are fully double-flowered and TWICE the size of many other varieties’. Wonderfully fragrant and very heavily borne over a long season, they make this shrub an indispensable part of every garden in zone 7 or warmer — and every container garden farther north. Don’t miss this evergreen beauty.Creamy-white and boasting the distinctive Rose-like shape, these flowers open from late spring well into summer — several weeks earlier than most other Gardenias, and a longer season than most. They measure 4 to 5 inches wide and are suffused with an indescribably sweet scent.

Plant this shrub on the patio, beside the kitchen window, or in any trafficked spot where the fragrance can be enjoyed by all who pass it. It’s no exaggeration to say that a single First Love perfumes the entire garden.These flowers arise most heavily early in the season, but continue for many weeks, so that even in midsummer you’ll be enjoying the sight and scent of First Love. Superb for cutting, they arise in full sun or light shade on shrubs that reach 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide — the ideal size for a foundation planting or large container as well as the border and patio garden.If you’re growing First Love in a container north of its hardiness range, just bring it indoors before the first hard frost, set it in a sunny window or brightly-lighted room, and enjoy the show all winter.

This plant is quite heat- and humidity-tolerant, and thrives in any well-enriched soil provided the drainage is good. It prefers to remain consistently moist, so keep it well watered for best flowering. It will reach its mature size within 5 years, with a compact, well-branched, mounded habit. Space about 4 feet apart. Zones 7-10 in the garden; any climate in containers.