Radicans Creeping Dwarf Gardenia

Gardenia jasminoides ‘Radicans’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 7b-10b Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Evergreen Flowering Shrub

Height at Maturity: 2′

Width at Maturity: 3-4′

Growth Habit / Form: Bushy, Dense, Mounding

Flower Color: White

Flower Size: 2-3″

Flowering Period: Mid- to Late-Spring, Summer, Fall in containers

Flower Type: Double

Fragrant Flowers: Yes – extremely fragrant!

Foliage Color: Dark Green

Fragrant Foliage: No

Berries: No

Berry Color: NA

Sun Needs: Morning Sun with Afternoon Shade or Filtered Sun, All Day Filtered Sun

Water Needs: Average, Lower when established

Soil Type: Clay (amended), Loam, Sand (amended), Silt

Soil Moisture / Drainage: Well Drained Moist

Soil pH: 4.5 – 6.0 (Acid)

Maintenance / Care: Low

Attracts: Visual Attention

Resistances: Deer, Drought (when established), Heat, Humidity, Insect

Description

If you love gardenias and their heavenly fragrance but haven’t had the space to fit one in your gardens meet ‘Radicans’, a dwarf and spreading Gardenia that forms a mound of dark green foliage to about 2 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide over time. As with other gardenia varieties, Radicans produces lusciously fragrant, pure white double flowers in spring through early summer. The dark green lustrous leaves are smaller and thinner than other varieties providing a unique texture in the landscape. Excellent in garden beds or pots.

Landscape & Garden Uses

Its low and mounding form to 2 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide make the Radicans Dwarf Gardenia ideal for use as a specimen in smaller garden spaces and in pots, planters, and other containers. In larger landscape spaces it is ideal for use in groupings or mas plantings as a groundcover or to underplant Japanese Maple trees, Fragrant Tea Olive, Grancy Greybeard, Redbuds, Dogwoods and other small trees. Perfect for planting along a path or walkway and around patios, decks and other outdoor living spaces where the fragrance can be enjoyed from close up. Just plant it on the east side of the tree so it’ll get some afternoon shade.

Suggested Spacing: 3 feet apart for solid hedge or mass planting; 6 feet or more apartfor space between plants

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a, where this Gardenia variety is not reliably winter hardy outdoors, you can enjoy it in containers that can be moved indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

Gardenia are very easy to grow in moist but well-drained acidic soils of average fertility and part sun, preferably morning sun with some shade or filtered sun in the mid afternoon hours. As with so many other ornamental plants, constantly soggy or wet soils can cause root rot or other plant diseases. The east side of the home or other tall structure is a perfect spot for gardenias. USDA Zones: 8a-11 Find Your Zone

Soil pH is important!

To flower their best and maintain deep green foliage color, all Gardenia require an acid to moderately acid soil ranging from 4.5 to 6.0 on the pH scale. If your soil is alkaline foliage will turn pale-green to yellow and flowering will be diminished.

Soil pH is a measurement of the alkalinity or acidity of soil and is measured on a scale of 1-14, with 7 as the neutral mark. Any measurement below 7 indicates acid soil conditions, and anything above 7 indicates alkaline. If you’re unsure about the pH of your soil and whether or not it’s suitable for growing Gardenia it’s a good idea to test the soil pH in the planting area. You can quickly test soil pH with an inexpensive soil pH tester probe. To raise the pH (make more alkaline) you can add pelletized limestone to the soil. To lower the pH (make more acid) you can apply Soil Sulfur, Aluminum Sulfate, or Chelated Iron. Adding organic compost to the soil or using compost as mulch can also help to increase acidity and maintain acid soil conditions.

Learn More: What is Soil pH & How To Test & Adjust It

Helpful Articles

Click on the link below to find helpful advice from our experts on how to plant, fertilize, prune and water Gardenia plants.

How To Plant & Care For Gardenias

Plant Long & Prosper!

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Questions? Contact Us

Plant arrived with little yellowing leaves….kept in shade for a couple weeks and plant has revived nicely……now in morning sun only. Looking good!———————————————-We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Gardenias have a tendency to get yellow leaves in the summer. Give them some iron. Thanks for the kind words and great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG