Fragrant Gardenias; Precious But Persnickety

For Father's Day, I gave my hubs one of his favorite plants, a gardenia.

If you are interested, you can read about it here.http://writingstraightfromtheheart.blogspot.com/2011/06/thursday-gardenia-plant-for-fathers-day.html

We both love the scent of this incredibly beautiful flower.  My late Mom carried them in her bridal bouquet. They can literally fill a room with their scent.

At the nursery where I bought the huge plant, the lady told me to give it "full sun and lots of water."

Hubs loved it but I could see, from the expression on his face when he saw it, he was already starting to worry about keeping it alive.  Sadly, several gardenias have kicked the bucket  while under our care. They are very hard to grow.

When the leaves started turning yellow recently, I thought we'd have to start playing "taps."  Hubs was not ready to give up. He transplanted the gardenia into a larger pot, moved her out of full sun for awhile, and added some Miracle Grow.

The other morning, about ready to come downstairs, something  wonderful perfumed the air.  I came down, went into the kitchen, and there, on the table, was a single, lovely gardenia in a glass holder. It was the plant's first blossom and hubs picked it, found the vase, and put it on the table.

The whole plant , stationed outside on the side porch, is looking a lot better. She probably was just squished inside that other planter.   You can  imagine how happy we are!

WHAT IS YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE FLOWER?