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Some have gardenias thrust upon them
Wednesday, June 5, 2024 at 10:44AM 
These are the first yield of my miniature gardenia bush
What was it Shakespeare said?
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Well I was not born a gardenia, but I have achieved a few gardenias, and I have certainly had gardenias thrust upon me.
When TG and I were married on June 16, 1979, in a suburb of Atlanta, I carried a huge bouquet of gardenias.
A lady in our church picked them that morning from bushes near a country fence.
It really was exquisite. And ever since then, the aroma of the gardenias says a southern summer and romance, to me.
The gardenia is still my favorite flower.
So it was that several years ago TG planted a miniature gardenia bush out back for me. It blooms every late May and early June, with smaller versions of the standard gardenia.
As soon as I see their creamy white petals, I pick what has bloomed that day, do a little dead heading, and bring in enough flowers for perhaps two small bowls full.
They decorate the air in the house for a day or two, maybe three, and then they wilt and I replace them with new blooms.
It doesn't last long as they bloom for a relatively short time, but I enjoy them so much while they're with me.
My neighbors across the street, Craig and Catherine, have a regulation-sized gardenia bush that is huge -- six or seven feet high.
It's positioned in a corner on the side, where the house meets the beginning of their fence and deck.
I don't think they ever see it. But since that side faces my house, I drool over those flowers every year.
Our neighbor Craig said that I could have these
This year I decided to march over there and ask Craig if I could plunder that gardenia bush before all of the flowers turned brown. He's usually outside.
He was sitting on the front porch looking at his phone.
Of course he said yes, I could take all the gardenias I wanted. I think they like the shade over there, he said.
That may well be.
So I picked enough for one huge bunch that I wanted to put in a jar/vase that used to belong to my mother.
I had been enjoying it all day when, towards evening, TG and I decided to take a walk.
On the way I saw another huge pair of gardenia bushes right at the edge of someone's property.
The flowers were going to slap me in the face as I walked by, so I stealth-picked a few.
I was enjoying smelling them as we walked along, listening to the cicadas and getting some exercise.
Presently we passed the house of another neighbor with whom I'm vaguely familiar.
He had just gotten home and was chatting with his own next-door neighbor.
Turned out he'd driven by ten minutes before, past TG and me just as I was plucking a few extra gardenias from the bush with a glut of them, earlier in our walk.
I saw you picking those down the road, he said. I've got a bush full of them in the back and you're welcome to all you can carry.
Being lousy with gardenias already back at the house, I should have said: Awww, thanks but I'm good! I got a whole bunch from another neighbor earlier today!
But envisioning heaps of additional creamy, fragrant gardenias, and feeling greedy, I said I'd come back in my car after TG's and my walk, with something to carry them in.
And so I did, and as it turned out, most of his gardenias had wilted and were well on their way to turning brown.
I didn't even have to ask for this bunch ... they were offered
But there were some good ones and I got enough for another large vaseful, which later at home I placed beside my bed.
I also picked up some mosquito bites, but that's par for the course.
And now, for a few days, I have more gardenias than you have had hot dinners.
You smell the flowers the moment you open the door, and their fragrance wafts throughout the cool house.
I wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up.
And that is all for now.
=0=0=0=
Happy Wednesday
Reader Comments (17)
Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers also. We had a large tree in our yard when we lived in Florida. The aroma is like no other flower. We have a huge lily magnolia with pink and purple blossoms now at our house here and it is my favorite tree. Last year we were getting ready to eat outside and I asked TBG to set the table. He did and he picked two blossoms for the table from the tree and it really touched my heart. Enjoy them my friend!!
I love your Gardenia story!! You know, I have not ever seen any. Well, not that I KNOW of. Now that I can see what they look like, I will be on the lookout. To me, they call up romance and the south. I wish I could smell them. I know, I'll go to the store and find some gardenia scented lotion or perfume, so I can smell it. So the blooms fall off and it blooms again, sort of like a day lily? I'm looking in the Garden Center!!
@Lori ... how charming of TBG to think of putting the magnolias on the table! I love the magnolia too but I just enjoy them on the trees. Our gardenia bushes in the neighborhood are just covered and as you walk, their scent wafts on the breeze! So charming. xoxo
@Ginny ... well my friend, not being any stripe of a gardener myself, all I can say is that during their brief blooming season, the gardenias will bloom on the bushes and, if they're picked and/or dead headed, more will bloom until the end of their short season. I believe that my miniature bush blooms again in September! But it's the May/June ones that are so abundant. I'm surprised you don't have them everywhere in Virginia! It's rare to see them at the garden center, and florists don't seem to have them either. xoxo
Oooh - I love gardenias, but rarely get to see them as they don't grow in the north country! But they are so pretty and smell wonderful. Enjoy them for me!
Very nice post. You had a theme that you stuck to, and it was a most pleasant theme.
@Mari ... I will certainly do that! xoxo
@John ... Why, thank you, AC! xoxo
Jungle Gardinia was my first grown-up fragrance at the age of 18. I loved the smell then and love it now...Happy sniffing!
hugs
Donna
@Donna ... Lovely fragrance! I remember it well. xoxo
Happy Anniversary, my sister got married on June 16th as well. :-)
I enjoyed this story of sharing flowers. :-)
Love, Carla
So, you are not so stealthy after all! I am not sure I would know a Gardenia unless it was thrust upon me but is sounds like it smells wonderful!
@Carla ... how charming! Lovely date to get hitched. And you ARE the flower lady, haha! xoxo
@Jim and Barb ... hahaha I bet you would but you just don't realize it. No, I'm not as stealthy as I thought, hahaha and YES they smell truly wonderful! xoxo
OH! I love gardenias although I have never had any luck growing them ! Their fragrance is divine. I also like lilacs and hydrangeas and I have had luck growing them. I would love to see you in your wedding dress with the bouquet of gardenias.
@Judee ... I don't have any luck growing anything at all so you're doing better than me! Actually I think gardenias like acidic soil because I think I've seen TG putting coffee grounds at their roots before. I will try to find a picture like that ... it was a long time ago, hahaha! xoxo
This is purely lovely,
@Maryellen ... the are the loveliest of flowers to me! xoxo
I grew up on a farm, yet never totally mastered the green thumb thang. So a meme I saw recently resonated truly with me: "It needs to be said: you're a really great gardener. That plant should have tried harder..."
@Mike ... Oh I resemble that! Plants just give up the ghost when I walk on the scene, hahaha! xoxo