www.graftedgardenias.com

May 1993

"GREAT GARDENIAS!"
by Nina Lee Parker, Edited by Pat Pawloski

REMEMBER WHEN you fell for that little gardenia in the nursery, seduced by its dark, lustrous leaves and perfect, white, extravagantly fragrant flowers? And remember how, almost as soon as you got it in the ground, it started to languish - turning yellow, dropping leaves and buds, and finally, in spite of all your efforts to turn things around, slipping down that one-way slide to the compost pile?

The problem is, everybody loves Gardenia jasminoides, but not many Southern California gardeners can get it to grow.

A less-demanding alternative is Gardenia thunbergia. This vigorous South African species is more tolerant of our alkaline soil, salty Colorado river water, and dry climate. It's also faster growing.

But there's a down side. With its angular branching pattern and coarse texture, G. thunbergia can look stiff and gawky. And its long, white tubular flowers are very short-lived, lasting only a day.

Retired landscape architect Ed Campbell has worked out a clever solution to this gardenia dilemma. Campbell grafts varieties of the more ornamental G. jasminoides onto the more vigorous G. thunbergia rootstock. The result is a gardenia that's as trouble free as it is beautiful, and, Campbell claims, blooms longer because of its more robust root system.

Sound too good to be true? Flourishing massed plantings of grafted gardenias from Campbell's nursery can be seen in the patio area of Mama Stella's Restaurant at Sea World and in front of the Carmelite Monastery in Normal Heights. In Coronado, you can see mature specimens growing in the garden patio area at the Hotel Del Coronado.

Campbell, who started raising grafted gardenias in order to supply his landscaping clients, has developed his own propagation techniques as a result of 40 years of experimentation. He grows his rootstock from seed produced by a magnificent 40 year-old G. thunbergia that dominates the courtyard of his Coronado Home. When the seedlings are established in four-inch pots, he grafts them with cuttings taken from varieties of G. jasminoides. The entire process from seed to marketable plant takes three years.

Ed Campbell's grafted gardenias are available at Walter Andersen's Nursery. You also can purchase them directly from Ed by calling [###-####]**.

For more info, please contact us at (805) 658-8221