August Beauty Gardenia

Gardenia jasminoides 'August Beauty'

flower

August Beauty is one of the longest-blooming gardenias, a glossy-leaved broadleaf evergreen that perfumes the whole garden through the warm months. It grows four to six feet tall and three to four feet wide, with dark, leathery, evergreen leaves, and from late spring through fall it opens a long succession of double, three-inch, creamy-white flowers whose rich, heady fragrance is the signature of a Southern summer. Gardenias are cherished cut flowers and corsage flowers for that scent, but they are also famously particular: they demand acid soil, steady warmth, and even moisture, and they reward the gardener who meets those needs with months of perfume.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Azalea — Shares the gardenia preference for acid soil and part shade and flowers earlier in spring before the gardenia opens
• Camellia — Another acid-loving broadleaf evergreen that extends the bloom season in the same bed
• Ferns — Shade companions that enjoy the same moist, rich, acid soil at the gardenia feet

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Whiteflies →

  Tiny white flies that swarm up from leaf undersides - rinse foliage, encourage beneficial insects, and treat with horticultural oil or insecticidal soap

• Aphids →

  Cluster on tender new growth and buds - rinse off with water and encourage ladybugs

• Scale →

  Bumps on stems and leaf undersides that weaken the plant and drip honeydew - prune out heavy infestations and treat with horticultural oil

• Sooty mold →

  A black film that grows on the honeydew left by whiteflies, aphids, and scale - control those sap-suckers and the mold disappears on its own

🌸 Blooms & cutting

Gardenia is one of the great fragrant cut flowers - snip a few just-opened blooms in the cool morning, handle them gently since the white petals bruise and brown easily, and float them in a shallow bowl to scent a room, the classic way to display them. On the plant, remove spent brown flowers to keep it tidy. Any pruning or shaping should be done right after a flush of bloom, since heavy pruning can sacrifice the next round of flowers on this long-blooming shrub.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

An ornamental broadleaf evergreen grown for its intensely fragrant white flowers and glossy year-round foliage. The flowers offer some nectar to bees and to night-flying moths drawn by the scent, but gardenia is prized above all for perfume and as a cut and corsage flower. Mildly toxic to pets if eaten.

⚠️ Toxicity & safety

Gardenia is considered mildly toxic to dogs, cats, and horses - eating the foliage or flowers can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and mild lethargy. It is not a danger to handle or grow around, and the flowers are not a hazard to people; just keep pets from chewing on the plant.