A gem of a gardenia
With a vision in mind, breeder Philip Dark labors to create an ideal flower
BY KATHERINE MILLER, Staff Writer
Philip Dark knew exactly what he wanted: a gardenia that could stand up to winter's cold with blooms that pack a punch.
After 10 years of combining breeds that had his ideal qualities, he's finally got it. He has created the Crown Jewel gardenia, a highly fragrant, white dwarf that blooms twice a year, survives cold winters and flowers prolifically.
“To start out with, I cross-pollinated the plants, then put together a seed pot. That takes a year,” Dark said. The trial and error of crossing, re-crossing and selecting promising seedlings of these plants takes years, especially for woody, foliage-heavy plants like gardenias. And it doesn't end there. Tests are then conducted in large populations and different locations. “It's taken 10 years of different places and different testing, but it's worth it.”
“I hesitate to go too far because it's very early,” said Mark Weathington, assistant director and curator of collections at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. “The plant's only grown for a year. But it really could become one of the top gardenias on the market.”
Dark, originally a landscaper, opened Oakmont Nursery in 1987. He began breeding hybrids after attending a seminar on propagation at the Raulston Arboretum by horticulturist Dr. Michael Dirr of the University of Georgia in 1997.
Dirr “got me really excited about the idea of creating new plants,” said Dark, 49. “It's pretty delicate, but pretty exciting work.”
He began working on the Crown Jewel soon after.
After 10 years of cross-breeding and seed selection, his plant has a U.S. patent.
The Crown Jewel is impressive, Weathington said, because it does what most gardenias can't. Most dwarf breeds can either bloom twice or survive a temperate winter. Dark's plant, however, does both.
The Crown Jewel combines two breeds, the Climbs Hardy and the Chuck Hayes, and marries their best features. The plant has the Climbs Hardy's dwarf size and prolific flowering and the cold hardiness and double-bloom of the Chuck Hayes.
Dark estimates that after five years, the average Crown Jewel plant would likely be 2 feet tall and 6 feet wide, making it very useful for a gardening plot. The plant blooms in early June, and once pruned or shaped back, it will bloom once again up until frost. Dark recommends full sun for the plant, but says it handles part shade as well. This past winter, the Crown Jewel survived 10-degree temperatures in North Carolina and three weeks of single-digit temperatures at a test site in Oklahoma.
For now, the Crown Jewel is available only in the Dickinson Garden Center in Chapel Hill and Dark's Oakmont Nursery in Siler City, but expansion across the state is on the way.
“At the mere mention of the word 'gardenia', it's got immediate market appeal,” Dark said. “People know the flower, people know its lovely smell.”
In fact, now that Dark has a U.S. patent for the plant, the Crown Jewel will be sold from Virginia to California. He and his agent for the project, Plant Haven Inc., are also pursuing an international patent; the plant is already being distributed in Western Europe and as far away as New Zealand.
Dark is working on new hybrids and assessing their commercial viability, but the success of the Crown Jewel still amazes him.
“Local boy, came up with this idea, reaps a nice reward – it's an entrepreneurial dream,” Dark said.
