I’ve found the following information useful when determining what to plant in our Texas climate:

• North Haven Gardens’ plant list
• East Texas Gardening by Texas A&M University

I’ve been enchanted with the notion of growing gardenias in the landscape, but worried that the climate might be too harsh here. In particular, I’m curious of the variegated gardenia, which has an attractive foliage. However, information I’ve read on this particular cultivar has been conflicting. Dave’s Garden reports only on the dwarf variety, but a retail source suggests two varieties that are available, the dwarf and a normal height shrub.