Hi,
I live in a deer infested area and they have sampled many of my plants, but left the gardenias alone. I have 3 types and no problems. I use 2 products that work very well, fish emulsion which is a fertilizer and Plantskydd. Deer are very sensitive to smell and the strong smell of fish based fertilizer keeps your plants untouched. Plantskyd I had to order online and as disgusting as it sounds because it is made out of dried pigs blood, it has become indispensable to me. It has an added benefit of having an iron component, so that when you spray your plants, it greens up the leaves. Good luck!

Welcome to the forum! Here is a link to the current USDA Zone Map. Gainesville is in Zone 9a.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thanks to both of you for your helpful answers- I'm trying to make my garden as deer resistant as possible and will try both products mentioned and I will buy a couple of gardenias. I've counted 8 deer at one time using my back yard as a restaurant.

We noticed that deer ate many of our Gardenias for the very first time. We are in the Coastal South in South Carolina.

If they are starving they will eat anything kinda like goats lol. If they have plenty to eat they might avoid certain stuff more.