Gardenias, garden

 Janie's mother loved gardenias and got a small potted plant every Spring. Once we moved here, she would give us the plants after they bloomed. I had them in pots for a while and then planted them out in the garden near some large trees. They grew to over 7ft. tall. We just had one of those trees, a beautiful hickory, taken down as it was 90% dead and rotting. Unfortunately the tree guys had to drop big pieces of the trunk as they removed it, crushing a few of the gardenias. So I have cut them back and will trim them up over the coming year. A few branches were happy to bloom for us.