source of plant? potted??... was it pot bound???

how did you plant it .. did you amend the hole???? ..... fert??? water regimen???

was January a proper planting time???

was it a bargain plant that sat in a parking lot all last summer ...

this MI boy doent do Gs .. and i presume you mean its a gardenia [typo above] ... but those dont look like G leaves ... are we sure on the ID ...

how have you cared for it.... since planting..

was there any significant .. severe... cold snap since planting???

need more info ...

ken

It was not root bound, yes we did have a frost for 2 days and I bought it at HD. Pretty sure it's a gardenia. What should I do to save it ?

It looks like Gardenia jasminoides "Radicans"....dwarf gardenia. Sure doesn't look happy, does it?

Is it planted where it gets some shade, especially in the afternoon? I would consider Radicans to be marginally hardy in your zone....frost wouldn't be as much of a problem as severely cold temperatures. I don't know about you, but it got extremely cold in northern Alabama.

We can't really help you unless we know more about how it was planted and cared for, as Ken suggests.

It was potted in a plastic container. It is planted about 3ft from the west side of my house in Ga. clay. I watered it every day for about 2 weeks then we got 2 days of frost. It looked great until then. No fertilizer was ever applied.

Once a week would probably be more reasonable, if it doesn't rain. No plant in the ground should be watered every day.

Once a week if established. Daily may be required for new shrubs depending upon environmental conditions. Once it was in the ground, it would need to be watered more often than if it were still in the pot.
I vote for frost.

Looks like an overwatered plant to me. Gardenias are evergreen through frost, ice storm, as long as the ground doesn't freeze. The plain species, covered with ice:

I never watered this shrub, even when it didn't rain for 6 weeks, full sun from sunup until about 5-6 PM. The same shrub 4 months later:

Brand new cuttings taken from the above shrub, that I just moved to this spot, that had miniscule roots have been getting a drink about once a week. (This isn't the final size or shape of this bed, but all I can do until a construction project nearby is finished.)