Gardenias

I'd just like to state for the record that I'm the only one who didn't give up on the gardenia bushes that line our front walk. You can see them here on the right side of the walk way:

The bushes were there when we bought our house almost four years ago. They bloom bright white flowers in the summer and smell really good. At the end of last winter, we thought they might be dying because a lot of the leaves were brown. We even bought a soil testing kit at Lowes to see if the acidity level of the soil was killing them.  We procrastinated and never mailed the soil sample, but lo and behold, the gardenias rebounded and looked as healthy and green as ever.

I wish I took a picture of how the bushes looked at the end of this winter. Every single leaf was brown and dry. We wondered if their condition was caused by the cold winter we had. They still looked ok in this picture I took when it snowed in ealry Febrauary:

I'd say about March they started looking desolate. Marcos was sure they were dead and everyone we asked seemed to agree.  Our home owner's association sent us a letter asking us to remove them.  But I insisted that the gardenias were only mostly dead, which we all know means partly alive.  So I did some major pruning. I cut off all the dead leaves and trimmed out all the skinny sticks that were making the bushes so dense.  From far away, they look worse than ever: (Do ignore the huge weed in the front. I had to leave that there to fool the woman who makes the rounds for our HOA. She said if she saw any green from the street she wouldn't fine us for failure to remove dead plants.)

Now take a closer look... new leaves!

I think they'll make it.  Anyone have an opinion?  I know that I'm no green thumb. This will be my first gardening victory if these babies live. I'll keep you updated.