the louisiana hummingbird phenomenon

young male Broad-tailed Hummingbird

(photo by Dave Patton)

I think most of us can agree that the descriptors “amazing” and “incredible” are among the most overused and misused words in our present-day pop-culture lexicon. I mean, if everything is as amazing and incredible as it's made out to be these days, then why are we in such trouble?

On the other hand, Real things – take Nature for example – are truly amazing and incredible; and one of the most amazing and incredible organisms in all of Nature is the hummingbird. The tiny size, the irridescent plumage, the ability to fly backwards and upside down with itty-bitty wings that beat 60 times a second . . . amazing . . . incredible.

Limited in distribution to the Americas, where over 330 species live, hummers reach their peak species diversity in northern South America, where 150 different species reside in Ecuador alone! As you go north or south from the tropics, hummer diversity drops accordingly. In the U.S., about 25 species have been recorded, 14 of which are regular breeders here, and the remaining 11 “strays” which have made brief appearances from points further south.

female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

(photo by Matt Conn)

Here in Louisiana, we host but one breeder, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird; but in an odd and recent turn of natural events, a dozen additional species have been recorded here to date – almost all of which show up in winter. Wow. Bear in mind that, as a rule, these additional species, as well as our own Ruby-throated, normally/traditionally overwinter down in the American tropics of Mexico, Central and South America.

Beginning back in the 1930s, “winter hummingbirds” began to be reported from the U.S. Gulf Coast, including here in south Louisiana. By the 1980s, the rate of winter hummingbird detections in Louisiana began to swell on an annual basis, with each successive winter bringing more and more birds and species. Pioneering banding efforts by Louisiana's Nancy Newfield and others have proven that many of our winter hummingbirds are actually “returnees,” birds which return here winter after winter, more often than not to the same yard where they were first captured and banded!

adult male Rufus Hummingbird

(photo by Dave Patton)

Today, at least three non-Ruby-throated Hummingbird species populate southern Louisiana in such numbers as to be considered common winter inhabitants: the Rufous Hummingbird from the northwestern coast of the U.S. and Canada, the Black-chinned Hummingbird from the western/southwestern U.S., and the Buff-bellied Hummingbird, a Mexican/south Texas breeder which regularly wanders northward to overwinter along the northern Gulf Coast of the U.S.

The Seasonal Hummingbird Set-up in Louisiana

Ruby-throats breed throughout the state, mostly in wet forests and preferably as near to water as possible. They love to build their marshmallow-shaped/sized nests on twigs which hang over water.

mama Ruby-throated Hummer on nest

(photo by Skip Miller)

Folks in urban areas and places well-away from water generally see Ruby-throated Hummingbirds only during their migration periods (March-May and August-October) into and through the state. Those of us who live in the woods near rivers, bayous, swamps, and lakes see them regularly throughout their May-August breeding season as well. Peak spring migration numbers occur in April; peak fall migration numbers in September. During those months, almost everyone who hangs a feeder or maintains a nectar plant garden will see large numbers of migrating Ruby-throateds.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

(photo by Dave Patton)

If you see a hummingbird at any point between late October and early March in Louisiana, chances are it's not a Ruby-throated. Yes, a few Ruby-throateds do overwinter in southern Louisiana, but far fewer than do Rufous, Black-chinned, and Buff-bellied hummers. Additional wesstern U.S. species (listed in decreasing order of abundance) that you might also encounter include Broad-tailed, Calliope, Allen's, Anna's, and Broad-billed, all of which are reported from our state just about every winter. And then there are the super-rare species such as Blue-throated, Green-breasted Mango, Green Violetear, and Magnificent hummers to consider, though to date these have been recorded on only 1-2 occasions in Louisiana. Refer to your bird field guides and/or google to learn more about all these species.

Attracting and Hosting Hummingbirds

First and foremost, you'll need garden space in which to install nectar-producing plants and provide habitat for not only the hummers, but also the tiny insects/invertebrates which comprise up to 25% of their diets. Next blog post, I'll cover hummer plants, so stay tuned.

Equally important for those of us who host hummers for long periods of time (breeding/overwintering Ruby-throats and/or overwintering non-Ruby-throats) are artificial nectar feeders. If you maintain or desire to maintain artificial nectar feeders, understand that you are creating an artificial lifeline to the hummers that you'll host. Thus, you must commit to maintaining these feeders, ensuring that they are clean and contain fresh (changed out every week or so) sugar solution on a daily basis. Do not put red dye in the sugar solution. That ain't necessary and it's probably unhealthy. Do not use honey or any other sweetener besides ordinary table sugar. Acceptable sugar-to-water ratios are 1:4 in the summer months and 1:3 in colder weather (that's like l cup sugar to 3 or 4 cups water). If you're not hosting hordes of hummers, keep your feeders only partially full. It's no use filling them to the top only to have the unused nectar spoil after a week or so. Store unused sugar solution in the fridge.

adult male Black-chinned Hummingbird at da feeder

(photo by Dave Patton)

Maintain as many feeders as you dare, only make the committment to continuously maintain them for the sake of the birds that depend upon them. Once the big slug of migrating Ruby-throated hummers has passed, many of us will take down all but 1-3 feeders.

If you live within the Interstate-10 corridor and southward, DO NOT take your feeders down in attempts to induce Ruby-throated hummers to continue southbound migration during the fall. Ruby-throats must double their body weights in order to make the long trip to southern Mexico, so they need all the feeder help that they can get here in the north. If a Ruby-throated or two linger around your feeders into December, chances are they are too young, too old, or too sick to migrate any further south. Besides, non-Ruby-throated species are actively seeking overwintering sites here from October-February, and they'll definitely need your feeders, particularly when freezing weather has killed off many of the nectar-producing plants in our gardens.

immature male Black-chinned hummer

without lots of practice, most non-adult male hummers

encountered during the winter months will be difficult to identify...

(photo by Dave Patton)

Species identification of adult male hummingbirds is pretty straightforward. Females and immature males, on the other hand, are usually very difficult to identify to species. Only a handful of hummingbird experts are able to routinely identify females and immature males here in south Louisiana during the winter months. Nancy Newfield, a Metairie resident and longtime Louisiana birder, has been studying and banding Louisiana hummingbirds for nearly 35 years. She'll be glad to investigate any winter hummer that might show up in your yard, particularly if you live in southeastern Louisiana. Check out http://www.casacolibri.net/ for info on Nancy (504.835.3882 h, 504.338.3882 c; nancy@casacolibri.net) and Louisiana hummers. Additionally, her new Louisiana Hummingbird publication is now available in both hard-copy and downloadable form at http://www.btnep.org/BTNEP/resources/downloads/publications.aspx. Much of the information that I've related in this post comes from Nancy. Her next speaking engagement will be November 29 at the Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center in Baton Rouge.

If you live in southwestern Louisiana and find yourself hosting a winter hummer, contact longtime Lafayette birder and hummer bander Dave Patton (337.298.8447; wdpatton@cox.net; see also http://www.pbase.com/pattonpix/humphotos for a look at Dave's fab hummer pics, some of which appear on this post). This coming Saturday (September 15) Dave will be conducting a hummingbird banding demonstration in Lafayette. Contact him or Lafayette's WildBirds Unlimited store for more information.

roadside diner

American Robin munching yaupon holly berries

(photo by Steve Pagans)

It really is a no-brainer. I love food. I love birds. I love wild plants. So why shouldn't I love birds who love food-producing wild plants? It's become a lifelong fascination. 

Back in the 1980s when I began working at the Acadiana Park Nature Station (Lafayette, LA), a book in the facility's library caught my attention: American Wildlife Plants – A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits (Martin, Zim, & Nelson, Dover Publications, 1951). A wonderful read, to be sure. But the thing was dated, man. Nineteen-fifty-one, you know? So I initiated a literature search for more recent stuff. The news wasn't good. Worldwide, I found no more than a handful of papers, only two of which dealt with birds and wild fruits in the southern U.S. In fact, the majority of those references dealt with bird gut sample results conducted back in the early 1900s by U.S. Department of Agriculture biologists – back when birds were viewed as either human food sources or noxious crop pests.

Yellow-breasted Chat on Service-berry Tree (Amelanchier arborea)

(photo by Beth Erwin...or maybe Rector Hobgood)

When I whined about this to LSU ornithologist Van Remsen, his reply was quick and to-the-point: “Why don't you conduct your own bird/wild fruit survey?” So that's what happened. Besides Remsen and myself, I managed to recruit a couple of dozen folks from around Louisiana who knew their birds and their wild fruits. For nearly five years (1994 through 1998), we recorded every instance of a bird eating a wild fruit that we observed, totaling 1,040 bird/fruit interactions in all, involving a total of 67 bird species and 50 plant species. I think we learned a lot about Louisiana birds and the wild berry species upon which they rely. I know I did.

during our survey, we observed 13 different bird species using

rough-leaf dogwood fruits, including several species of vireos & flycatchers...

since the survery, 3 additional observations involving Hermit Thrush,

Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole (above) have been reported.

Today, some observers still send me bird/fruit observations, the most recent of which came from Shreveport birder Terry Davis, who sent me this fine photo taken by Mark Priddy of a female Baltimore Oriole consuming rough-leaf dogwood (Cornus drummondii) berries.

Red-bellied Woodpecker lusting after black cherries

(photo by Russ Norwood http://www.perceptivist.com/)

So what did we find out from our 1994-98 survey? Well one of the first things that struck me was the fact that all woodpeckers love fruit. All woodpecker species like all sorts of berries. One of my best memories from the survey involved a family of four Pileated Woodpeckers – mom, dad, and two youngsters. There was a nice black cherry tree right in the middle of the Acadiana Park Campground. The campground was empty, and the woodpecker parents had escorted their young to the cherry tree in order “show them what's good.” As the woodpeckers ate, the youngsters began to holler – with delight, I guess – which attracted a motely crew of American crows. The crows descended around the cherry tree, themselves hollering and side-swiping the woodpecker family. Expectedly, the youngsters were freaked, but the parents nonchalantly held their ground, completely ignoring the crows. The youngsters followed suit.

poison ivy....late at nite, when you sleepin'.....

note tiny berries top/center

We also found out what poison ivy's good for. In our survey, we tallied a total of 23 different bird species using poison ivy berries, including woodpeckers, thrushes, catbirds, thrashers, chickadees, and warblers. So now we don't have to hem and haw when kids ask us, "Why did God make poison ivy?"

Cedar Waxwing scarfing down evil Chinese privet berries

(photo by Matt Conn)

In a related side-story, we also noted that the very best wild fruit plants – those which routinely attracted the most birds and the highest diversity of different species – tended to be plants that humans consider to be trashy. At the very top of the list, for example, is hackberry, a tree whose presence few property-owners will tolerate. As mentioned, poison ivy ranked high, as well as other hated/disliked species such as Virginia creeper, red mulberry, elderberry, and Chinese privet. Don't even get me started on Chinese tallow fruits. That's a subject for another post....

our prettiest weed(?) . . .

my oh my....Passiflora incarnata

There's a wise old garden saying that goes, “a weed is a plant out-of-place,” which means that 1) all “weeds” are not necessarily weeds, and 2) sometimes a “weed” coming up in the “right place” is a good thing...perhaps even better than one (or more!) of the plants that the gardener might have originally chosen for that place.

Personally, I can't even begin to count the number of plants that I've planted and lost in our gardens, and worse, client's gardens – hundreds, if not thousands over the past 35 years. By the same token, I'd also have a difficult time remembering all of the “accidental” plants – let's not call them weeds – that have come up (“volunteered”) in gardens which ended up making a better showing than the plants that I had originally intended for said spots.

passion vine festoons our 7' X 8' swamp rose

A perfect example occurred this past summer at our place. Out of nowhere, a native passion vine (Passiflora incarnata) took root under our swamp rose. Lydia and I both noticed it at the same time. We both received it with great delight, since both of us had unsuccessfully tried on several occasions over the years to get it started at our place. I mean, what's up with that? Here we are, two professional gardeners, and neither of us can make a local weed happy at our place? Yes kids, if you have not found out already, gardening is one of the most humbling of human endeavors. . . over the years we've found out that humble turns out to be a good thing, though. . .

note the tri-lobe leaves (esp. lower left)...learn the leaf

and you can identify the plant when it's not in bloom...

Anyway, up comes the passion vine. Plentiful rains have it growing at the speed of light – or at least water. . . It winds up and around and around the swamp rose. It jumps on the daylily row next to the ditch, and then onto the wild hibiscus in the ditch. Where she stops, nobody knows. We're loving it. . .

Passion vine (aka passion flower) is a member of the plant family Passifloraceae, a tropical family containing a dozen genera and over 600 species – about 500 of which are passion vines (genus Passiflora). Here in Louisiana, two species of Passiflora natively occur. Passiflora lutea, called yellow passionflower, is a small, delicate, shade-loving woodland vine; whereas Passiflora incarnata, called purple passionflower, is a large, husky, tough, sun-loving vine found in agricultural fields and other disturbed areas. Yep, many if not most farmers consider it a bad weed. What a weed, non?!!???

P. incarnata fruit

Another common name for P. incarnata is “maypop,” probably in reference to the fruit. As is the case with most species of passion vine, the fruits of P. incarnata are quite tasty, offering a sweet/tart flavor mix.

inside, each seed is encapsulated with its very own

envelope of juicy pulp...

Historically, French-speaking Louisianians called the fruit, grenade (pron. Grah-NOD), and made a refreshing lemonade-like drink from it. In his Edible Plants of the Gulf South (2005, Allen's Native Ventures, 337.328.2252), Charles Allen proclaims all parts – leaves, flowers, and fruits – of Passiflora incarnata to be edible.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly

(nectaring off of red porterweed)

Passiflora incarnata is a primary host-plant for the larvae of both Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing butterflies.

a wild garden

"Wild thing

You make my heart sing;

You make everything groovy."

-- Chip Taylor

New Orleans' Longue Vue Gardens is appropriately named, for the site possesses a dozen or more ingeniously constructed mini-gardens laid out so that numerous resulting “long views” through several gardens at a time exist throughout the property. And of course the main “long view” – up to the main house – should rank among the most spectacularly-designed entry gardens in the U.S.

Longue Vue House and Gardens was the brainchild of Edgar and Edith Stern, who had the home built and grounds landscaped back in the 1930s. They hired nationally-renowned landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman to design the gardens. Beginning in 1935 with the spaces immediately surrounding the house, Shipman worked her way outward, and by 1939 had finally made it to a quiet, one-acre space at the northwestern corner of the property, adjacent to the 17th Street Canal dividing Orleans parish and Old Metairie. Here, using a fine brick pigeonaire as an aesthetic anchor, Shipman created Longue Vue's Wild Garden via a geometrically-simple pathway system that effectively divided the garden into several hefty segments.

Legendary Louisiana artist/writer/naturalist Caroline Dormon was called in to consult with Shipman on the Wild Garden's planting selections. And over the succeeding years several additional Louisiana native plant garden specialists have been called in to provide input there, beginning with Richard and Jessie Johnson, founders of the Louisiana Native Plant Society, and hand-picked successors at Dormon's beloved “Briarwood” (now known as The Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve) just north of Natchitoches.

I first visited Longue Vue's Wild Garden in the late 1990s, and over time was privileged to collaborate with a succession of three of the facility's Head Gardeners in providing design options and planting selections during the Wild Garden's crazy pre-/post-Katrina years. My last interaction came just several weeks post-Katrina (2005) when I was contacted by Head Gardener Amy Graham to come out and assess the damage and provide replacement plantings.

a bank of wild aster has naturalized

on the right side of this path

Salt-marsh mallow blooms (above) mingle with

black-eyed susan (below)

Amy, who's still serving as Longue Vue's Head Gardener, as well as her predassessors Ann Donnelly and Marcela Linero (Singleton), were all keen on native wildlife-attracting plants – a lucky happenstance for a guy like me. During that last-go-round in the wake of Katrina, I focused on seed/berry/nectar-producing natives, installing mid- to small-sized trees such as American hornbeam, red mulberry, rough-leaf dogwood, sweetbay magnolia, red bay, yaupon holly, and deciduous holly, shrubs such as American beautyberry, arrowwood viburnum, little-leaf viburnum, dwarf palmetto, and wax myrtle, as well as wildflowers such as salt-marsh mallow, black-eyed susan, indian pink, asters, irises, turk's cap, St. Andrew's cross, and others.

Tyrone Foreman (pictured) and I took shelter in the pigeonaire and

caught up on old times during a brief rain shower......behind Tyrone

is a young speciman of needle palm (Rhapidophyllum hystrix), a rare

native, endemic to pine flatwoods in the southernmost parts of South Carolina,

Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi

These photos were taken on a recent visit to the Wild Garden, where I serendipitously ran into old friend Tyrone Foreman, a well known Louisiana native plant advocate, and Susan Norris-Davis, both of whom have been carrying out the main maintenance duties there for the past several years. New Orleans birder Wendy Rihner conducts seasonal birding tours through the Wild Garden. Her next tour is scheduled for September 22. Check the Longue Vue House and Gardens website for more info.

furry waif's cemetery

(metal sculpture piece near cemetery gate, donated by Susan Votier)

Lydia's been volunteering at Lafayette Animal Aid, a no-kill shelter for homeless dogs and cats, for a long time. Not long after they moved to their new facility north of Carencro, she got the idea to turn their little “pet cemetery” into an ornamental garden. She initially succeeded in installing one, enlisting her pals Michael Heinemen and David Kent. Alas, more pressing cares and concerns with the shelter, and the little garden soon fell into disrepair.

Then along comes volunteer Melinda Falgout – and this is key – her newly retired husband, Gary. Those two, along with Tammy Broussard weeded, soil-prepped, planted, and steel-edged the garden. Volunteers and staff donated wind chimes, bird-baths, and other niceties.

foreground: wormwood Artemesia, old-timey zinnias & Gaura lindheimeri behind

The “sun garden” portion is now a 125' x 4' perennial bed, chock-full of all sorts of hummingbird and butterfly plants, many of which are native wildflowers. And those which are not out-and-out south Louisiana natives have a long track-record of local adaptation. The “shade garden” section has just gotten underway as well.

front: old-timey zinnas; back: native turk's cap

These days, garden maintenance has become a priority of sorts, with Melinda, Lydia, Randy West, and Virginia Richard working there alternate days. Melinda and Debra Clothier installed an irrigation system. In establishing gardens in hot/dry/exposed sites out in rural areas, where belive me, weeds are ten-times the problem that they are in town, irrigation and steel-edging are “musts.”

"pink cigar plant" and turk's cap blooms mingle

these two are outstanding hummer/butterfly plants for our area

yarrow (left), Gaura (upper left), and dwarf rosemary (lower right)

frame a headstone

The headstone decoration quickly evolved, beginning with LAA Facility Manager Melissa Soto, and eventually involved students from Carencro Catholic, Boys and Girls Club, 4-H groups, Girl Scouts, and at-risk youth groups.

headstone workshop

Once upon a time, the abandoned-animal scene was nearly as bad as the litter scene presently is here in the Lafayette area. I write “nearly as bad” from the head. From the heart, of course, abandoned animals are gut-wrenchingly worse scene than litter. It's a sad thing that so many people treat living things as litter...or ornamentation...or armament....etc.

Besides being socially and morally reprehensible, the abandoned animal scene is ecologically reprehensible as well. Stray cats and dogs put even more pressure on already-stressed songbirds, lizards, skinks, frogs, etc. Pressure that these wildlings are having an increasingly tough time coping with.
Thanks to organizations like Lafayette Animal Aid, the local abandoned-animal scene is far less visible than just a few years ago. Joining forces with other groups, they've collectively spayed-neutered thousands and thousands of animals in the past few years. LAA adopts out hundreds of animals each year, as well. They visit classrooms. They host field trips. Watch for their recently-produced series of public service announcements on KADN. They're a happenin' group!

Consider becoming a Lafayette Animal Aid “Guardian Angel.” It's all of $25 per month commitment for God's sake. They've got a heck of group of people out there – staff, volunteers, and other folks who help them in fundraising, public relations, etc. A very impressive operation. Don't take my word for it. Check 'em out at www.lafayetteanimalaid.org or call 337.896.1553.  

a tale of two buttonbushes

marshy lake edges are perfect natural habitat for

buttonbush, shown here on the right, set apart from the lake edge

proper by a swath of marsh grasses

Last post, we had a look at Gardenias, the queen genus of the plant family Rubiaceae. Known alternately as the Madder family, the Bedstraw family, or the Coffee family, the Rubiaceae is a large one, containing 450 genera and 6500 species worldwide. Especially in the horticultural world, it is a sexy family indeed, featuring many fine-formed, glossy-leaved shrubs.


Let's have a closer look at a couple of more representatives from the Rubiaceae that make excellent ornamental garden plants down here: buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) and Chinese buttonbush (Adina rubella).

Buttonbush is a wetland native throughout much of eastern North America, as well as parts of the midwestern and southwestern U.S. Here in Louisiana it is a common inhabitant in just about every swamp and lake edge in just about every parish. Ecologically, it functions as a much-desired nectar plant for bees, butterflies, etc. Its main claim to fame in the bird world is as perhaps the most critically important natural nesting substrate (platform) for mid-sized wading birds such as Little-blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Great Egret, and others. Size-wise buttonbush ranges 6-15' in height. It is almost always multi-stemmed, and produces a spreading, umbrella-like crown. Its leaves are large, medium-pale green, and satin-finished.

native buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) blooms & foliage

blooms are between ping-pong and golf balls in size

foliage is at least 4" long

In garden settings, I include at least one “specimen” buttonbush in just about every design I execute – especially those with low-elevation spots that naturally attract moisture. In such cases, I “limb-up” the plant's stems, removing all lower branches up to a height of at least 6' thus exposing the plant's curvy, serpentine, pale-gray stems. This also aids in developing a denser-foliaged and more “bloomiferous” crown. Give this plant as much sun and as much moisture as possible.

The second featured buttonbush – Chinese buttonbush (aka “glossy adina”) – is similar to our native, but is visually far more refined in texture, due primarily to its very tiny, dark-green, and lusterously glossy leaves. Its blooms are also way smaller and more numerous than our native species, and with a flesh-pink tinge and delicate fragrance to boot. Like our native, Chinese buttonbush grows 6-15' and is spreading-crowned in form; but it normally produces many more stems than does our native buttonbush – giving it more of a “large shrub” (as opposed to “small tree” with native buttonbush) habit. Butterflies and bumblebees love the blooms.

Chinese buttonbush (Adina rubella) blooms & foliage

blooms are marble-sized

(pardon the stupid focus, ya'll....just concentrate to the right side of the frame)

[attempted] close-up of Adina rubella's fragrant pink blooms

aroma therapy

top: "Jasmoides" type Gardenia

lower left and right: "Thunbergia" type Gardenias

From a horticultural perspective, perhaps the finest thing about Gulf Rim gardening is the vast array of fragrance plants that we have at our disposal – most of them exotic, and most of them limited in hardiness to horticulture zones 8b-9.  That's why the further south you go, the better the gardens smell . . .


For example, everyone living along the Gulf Rim – be ye gardeners, or not – must have sweet olive (Osmanthus fragrans aka “tea olive”) and night-blooming jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum). I mean, just for the general sake of sanity, ya'll. If you live in an apartment, that's no real excuse. Grow 'em in big-ass tubs. Grow them you must.

And the fragrance plant list for our region stretches on and on from these two storied selections: true jasmines (Jasminum sp.), banana shrub (Michelia figo, aka “banana magnolia”), sweet-bay magnolia (Magnolia virginina), citrus, hundreds of varieties of roses (especially the antiques), winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), and on and on.

And then there are the gardenias....ah, what a group....and is it even possible to accurately describe their scent? Best I could come up with would be something like, “heady, heavy, near-sickly-sweet-musk, with (on some evenings) a hint of citrus.” Whatever, gardenias surely belong right up there with sweet olive and night-blooming jessamine. All are so easy to grow down here, and all have drawn out bloom seasons. On average, gardenias bloom 4-6 weeks; sweet olive and night-blooming jessamine, more like 8-16 weeks, if not more(!).

In researching gardenias for this article, I quickly ran into substantial taxonomical confusion – which is not at all a common thing in researching most plant and animal groups. Of course nowadays with the internet and all, such a problem should be handled with relative ease. Not so with gardenias. The more I searched, the more confusing things got. So what “facts” you might read here represent the best that I could come up with. If anyone out there can help straighten me out on this matter, please contact me at natrldlite@cox.net.

Gardenias are native mostly to the Old World tropics: southern Asia and Africa; and a few species apparently native to northern Australia and Polynesia. According to sources, 140-200+ species within the genus Gardenia exist – mostly shrubs, but some trees as well. Here within the southern Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S., the gardenias that we know and love are spring/summer blooming evergreen shrubs featuring very attractive deep-green, glossy foliage.

Here in southern Louisiana, the gardenia that I pretty much grew up with is 6' X 6' large-leaved shrub which produces double “rumpled”looking blooms around late-May and June. This is the selection that Neil Odenwald (Southern Plants for Landscape Design, 1987) calls Gardenia jasmoides, with a (maybe so, maybe not) cultivar name of 'Mystery'.

Above photo is pretty much what my 'Mystery' gardenia looks like. Note especially the rumpled look to its flowers. This photo, however, is actually of the dwarf gardenia, Gardenia jasmoides 'Prostrata' also known in some sources as Gardenia radicans. The point is, both this dwarf cultivar and the larger 'Mystery' gardenia of my youth share those rumpled-looking blooms.

Then there's this cultivar (above), of which I've yet to dig up a cultivar name, but which multiple sources list as Gardenia jasmoides or Gardenia augusta. Note how the bloom begins in a nodding position (so I just call it “the nodding type”). This gardenia features the largest leaves and the largest blooms of any species/cultivar with which I am familiar.

Once “the nodding type” opens up, the bloom occasionally rares up into a horizontal position. Blooms age into a fine tawny-cream color, and become even more fragrant before dropping.

7' "hip gardenia" at our place

And then there are the smaller-leaved, single-flowered gardenias – referred to by Odenwald as Gardenia thunbergia – which form telltale, red-orange “hips” after bloom drop. Common names for this class of gardenia include “star gardenia,” “daisy gardenia,” and “hip gardenia.” I've seen other sources refer to these as Gardenia scabrella. Some sources list this species group as native to northern Australia; others to south Africa. Up until only recently in Louisiana, this species group was seen only around the old plantation homes along the Mississippi River. Today, you can find them in many south Louisiana nurseries. I suspect that Neil Odenwald played a major role in getting them back into commercial production around these parts.

da hip

Beyond their very cool flowers, hip gardenias feature relatively tiny leaves, providing an outstanding fine-textured habit in the landscape. The “standard” hip gardenia grows to 8' X 6' and it's a wonderful thing to see such tiny, densely-arrayed, leaves on such a large shrub.

There's also a more dwarfish form of hip gardenia called 'Daisy' which grows only to 4-5' in height.

bloom comparison: l-r 'Daisy' (note wide petals), "Hip" (narrow petals),

and "Jasmoides" (double-flowered)

foliage comparison: top, "Jasmoides" (4" long);

middle, "Hip"; bottom 'Daisy' (thinner/longer, similar to G. jasmoides 'Prostrata')

on all, note fine venation and glossy finish....very fancy.....

There are several more types that I don't have space (or photos) to mention. All I can say is the three types that I've featured above have all done beautifully here -- even in my mucky black clay.

Tell ya what, regardless of which cultivar you choose (I suggest making room for all of them), that heavy, musky-sweet gardenia fragrance wafting up your nose faithfully each morning and evening for weeks on end will do wonders for the “harried-mind-syndrome” that most of us seem to carry around these days.