I have a 3-year old gardenia bush on my patio in New York City. ItÂs done very well and has gown to over 4X its original size (now 4Â tall and 5Â wide). Sun and location is perfect from what I can tell.

This year, I noticed very small white seeds on the back of each new sprout. I though it may have been a natural occurrence. I waited 2 weeks and flies came out of the bush everywhere. IÂve looked online and these are not white flies. They are large black ones.

Importantly, when the seeds disappeared, the flies emerged, but the gardenia seemed unharmed. Leaves are still very green and glossy. The bush seems perfectly healthy. I have no brown spots, and very few, if any, yellow leaves.

I have taken care of the fly problem with traps and such. ThatÂs not my concern.

I just noticed that all the new growth on the gardenia has the same white seeds again. There are thousands, just like the last time a few weeks ago - 25 to 50 per each stem of new growth  at least 50 new growth stems.

Does anyone know if these seeds are fly larva, or some disease, or perhaps even gardenia seeds I have missed in the past?

I just cut back the gardenia to remove all visible traces of the seeds (eggs, I donÂt know). IÂm just concerned I have a larger problem that IÂm not aware of.

Thanks very much in advance for your help.

Chris in NYC