The past few nights the fragrance from my Tropical Gardenias tickled my senses and compelled me to focus on the flowers in this week’s vase. Then I looked them up and found online sources calling them a Crepe Jasmine tree? Most locals call them Tropical or Florida Gardenias. Botanically they are Tabernaemontana divaricata, belonging to the same family as the more common Gardenia jasminoides but much more tropical, growing in the warmest areas of South Florida. They are bigger than common Gardenias, with oversized, glossy foliage and easily reach heights of ten feet. Additionally, nearly bug free and don’t need any coddling. I found mine buried under some overgrown shrubbery in the back yard and cut it free. It is probably 12 feet tall. A little effort is expended to reach and cut the flowers.
A closer view:
The cut flowers were arranged with most of their foliage intact. I pruned a bit of the foliage to emphasize the flowers and then added some cuttings of flowers from my Adonidia Palm (Veitchia merrilli) The vase, a thrift store find, is my favorite squatty vase.
I adore the flowers on palm trees, having never seen any before moving to Florida. They seem like an architectural element.
The palm flower.
Thank you to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly gardening meme. I enjoy seeing vases of flowers from gardeners all over the world. Follow the link to see more vases.
Happy Gardening!
The Shrub Queen 
The palm flowers are fascinating. To my northern eye, yours is a very “southern” vase. Lovely.
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Very southern, south of Orlando!
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It’s hard to beat white and green in a vase, especially if the green is a glossy one. Lovely, Amy
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Sage words!
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Hi Amy, your vase is so pretty and elegant, it reminds me a bit of Susie’s creations over at pbm garden. The scent must be lovely! My Trachycarpos has similar flowers, I’ve never thought of cutting them for the vase until now.
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Thank you, Susie had gardenias a couple of weeks ago, I think..I like to cut a lot of different things!
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Very pretty, I like the dark, shiny leaves.. wish I could smell it!
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Thanks, Eliza. It’s Gardenia Lite.
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Your Gardenias make a gorgeous display Amy. Tropical, yet cooling.
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Thank you, tropicool?
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Yes, love it! 🌴😎
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On a warm (and muggy by our standards) day, your cool green and white arrangement is a joy, Amelia. I’d love to have gardenias (by any name) that required no coddling and grew 12 feet tall! Heck, just having a small potted gardenia that could survive the dry conditions here would be nice. I can sympathize with the difficulty of cutting flowers of that height as I faced a similar challenge this week cutting the flowers of my Leptospermum, which insist on growing mostly on the tallest branches.
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Well, I love your Leptospermum..
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Ten foot tall gardenias must divinely scent your garden.
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They are nice much lighter in fragrance than G. jasminoides.
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Cool use of palm bloom.
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The gardenias are so pretty, and the palm flowers too. They are completely new to me. Quite striking. 😃
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Palms have mad flowers and fruit.
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